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IN LOTUS-LAND: JAPAN 





UNDER THE PURPLE WISTARIAS 



\ 



IN 



LOTUS-LAND 
JAPAN 



BY 



HERBERT G. PONTING, F.R.G.S. 

AUTHOR OF "the GREAT WHITE SOUTH " 




WITH 8 PICTURES IN COLOUR 

AND 80 IN MONOCHROME 

FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 

BY THE AUTHOR 



1922 

LONDON y TORONTO 
J. M. DENT ^ SONS LTD. 
NEW YORK : E. P. DUTTON & CO. 



All rights reserved 



-Pt 







^\<u 



A^ 



They came unto a land, 
In which it seemed always afternoon* 
A land of streams ! some, like a downward smoke, 
Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go. 
And some thro* wavering lights and shadows broke. 
Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below. 
They saw the gleaming river seaward flow 
From the inner land ; far off, a mountain-top, 
A silent pinnacle of aged snow. 

Stood sunset-flushed ; and, dew^d with showery drops, 
Up-clomb the shadowy pines above the woven copse. 

Tennyson, The Lotos-Eaters, 



PiabUshar 



New and Revised Edition .... 1922 

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 



FOREWORD 

This book is written by a nomad who has worshipped at the 
shrine of Nature and Art in many lands; who has spent nearly 
three happy years in one of the most delightful of holiday 
lands^ and who served as a Correspondent with the First 
Japanese Army during the war with Russia* In it will be 
found no dissertations on politics^ economics or social prob- 
lems; and he who seeks information concerning Japan^s 
vast textile manufactures^ statistics of her progress^ or of the 
rapid growth of her military and naval mighty will search its 
pages in vain* 

This volume is intended^ primarily^ as a guide-book for 
the traveller; and^ secondly^ as a means — to those who are 
unable to roam so far away — to explore a beautiful country 
through the medium of the lens and observations of one 
whose camera and note-book have been his inseparable 
companions in all his wanderings o'er the earth* 

During his travels in Lotus-Land^ the author's experiences 
were so many and varied that in writing the book the most 
perplexing problem has been what to leave out of it^ so as to 
keep its si2;e within reasonable limits* Descriptions of many 
interesting places and incidents have had perforce to be 
omitted^ but in what has been included herein will be found 
some account of much that is best about Japan; and^ in the 
hope of bringing some fresh aspects of the country into 
focus^ the writer has narrated experiences which he had far 
from the ''beaten tracks*'' 

When this book was first published^ the author was pre- 
paring to embark for the Antarctic^ as a member of the late 
Captain R* F* Scott's South Pole Expedition^ and it appeared 
on the day the Expedition sailed* There having been no time 
to revise the first proofs^ the letterpress suffered somewhat 



vi IN LOTUS-LAND 

in consequence* Notwithstanding this^ the book was received 
with unanimous and generous approval by the Press^ and it 
went through two editions* 

The text has now been thoroughly revised; matter of 
lesser importance has been omitted^ whilst much new material 
has been added^ including a brief introductory account of the 
stirring events which immediately preceded the Reformation 
— for a proper understanding of many things and places can 
only be gained with some knowledge of the times with which 
they were so prominently associated* Also^ the selection of 
illustrations will be found to be better than formerly — a 
number of new plates having been added^ whilst certain less 
important ones have been discarded* 

The photographs from which the illustrations herein are 
reproduced are all from original negatives taken by the writer* 
The copyrights of several vest in Messrs* Underwood & 
Underwood of New York, and in the H* C* White Company 
of Vermont, U*S*A*, whom the author warmly thanks for 
permission to include them* Some of the writer's original 
studies, and more particularly those of Mount Fuji, have 
been copied by Japanese photographers, and by artists and 
craftsmen working in various metals and textiles* Lest, 
therefore, there be any who question the origin of these 
photographs, an extract is appended from a review which 
appeared in one of the newspapers of Japan when the 
author's Fuji-San was first published* 

H* G* P* 



** It would scarcely be an exaggeration to say that Mr. Ponting has 
discovered a new mountain; for no one has ever seen the great quiescent 
volcano depicted from so many points before, except, indeed, from the 
pencil of Hokusai. But then, this great painter gave representations that 
were half true, half fanciful, whereas the pictures before us are pure and 
unadulterated truth/' 

The Japanese Times. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Foreword . . ♦ ♦ v 

CHAPTER I 
The Last Days of Feudalism ..♦♦♦♦♦! 

CHAPTER II 
Tokyo Bay* ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦.♦, ii 

CHAPTER III 
The Flower Festivals of Tokyo 14 

CHAPTER IV 
Concerning Japanese Women ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 27 

CHAPTER V 
The House and the Children ♦ ♦ 45 

CHAPTER VI 
Kamakura and Enoshima 57 

CHAPTER VII 

MiYANOSHITA AND LaKE HaKONE 79 

CHAPTER VIII 
Shoji, and the Base of Fuji ♦,♦♦♦♦. 90 

CHAPTER IX 
An Ascent of Fuji-San ^ 115 

CHAPTER X 
Nikko and Chuzenji ♦♦•♦♦..♦. 151 

vii 



viii IN LOTUS-LAND 

CHAPTER XI PAGE 

Matsushima and Yezo ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ . ♦ ♦ 169 

CHAPTER Xn 
The Bay of Enoura ♦ ♦ ♦ 185 

CHAPTER Xni 
The Temples of Kyoto 195 

CHAPTER XIV 
The Artist-Craftsmen of Kyoto ♦♦♦.♦. 222 

CHAPTER XV 
Uji AND THE Fireflies »,♦..... 243 

CHAPTER XVI 
Nara — THE Heart of Old Japan 249 

CHAPTER XVII 
The Rapids of the Katsura-Gawa ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ •255 

CHAPTER XVIII 
Hikone and its Castle ♦♦♦♦♦.,. 264 

CHAPTER XIX 
The Great Volcanoes, Aso-San and Asama-Yama . ♦ ♦ 275 

CHAPTER XX 
The Inland Sea and Miyajima 291 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Under the Purple Wistarias 

On the Old Tokaido ♦ 

Mount Fuji at Sunrise 

Cherry Blossom Time in Japan . 

Kameido ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 

A Wistaria Arbour at Kameido ♦ 

An Iris Garden at Hori-kiri 

In a Lotus Garden 

At the Chrysanthemum Show 

A Geisha Dancing 

A Maid of Fair Japan. 

Geisha . » . . . 

A Geisha Playing the Samisen ♦ 

By the Karakami 

Writing a Letter 

Bedtime in Japan. 

The Picture Book 

Evening in Japan 

A Lotus Pond .... 

A Shinto Priest .... 

Amida the Buddha 

A Priest of Buddha 

Autumn at Miyanoshita 







Frontispiece 






Facing 


page 6 










13 










15 










18 










30 










33 










25 










36 










31 










33 










37 










40 










45 










48 










51 










53 










56 










57 










60 










65 










69 










78 



IX 



IN LOTUS-LAND 



The ** Waterfall of Falling Jewels *' ♦ 

Ladies Travelling by Yama-Kago ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 

Atami ♦♦,♦♦♦♦,♦. 

The Christmas Fuji from Lake Hakone 

Fuji from Lake Yamanaka . ♦ ♦ 

Fuji from Lake Shoji ♦♦♦.♦,♦ 

Approaching Storm on Lake Motosu ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 

Fuji and the Shira-Ito Waterfall ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 

Fuji and the Kaia Grass ♦ 

Fuji through the Pine Trees , ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 

Fuji from Lake Motosu 

Fuji and the Pine Trees ♦♦♦♦♦♦ 

The Crest of Fuji ♦»..,.. 

A Shrine at the Crater*s Edge ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 

Sunset from the Summit of Fuji ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 

Two Miles above the Clouds. Three - Day's - Moon 
Lake, from the Summit of Fuji » ♦ ♦ . 

A Shower in the Woods .♦♦♦.♦ 

The Cryptomeria Avenue at Nikko . ♦ ♦ 

The Yomei Gate at Nikko ♦♦.♦♦♦ 

Meditation, A Study at Gamman-ga-Fuchi 

Nantai-zan and Lake Chuzenji ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 

Kegon-no-taki ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 

At Matsushima ♦ 

Ainu Man and Women at Home , ♦ ♦ . . 

Happu Konno the Hunter and Two Ainu Fishermen ♦ 

The Pines of Shizu-ura ..♦.♦♦ 

A Fisherman's Children ♦ 



Facing page 80 
85 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



XI 



Greetings in the Old Garden Kinkakuji 

Interior of a Buddhist Temple ♦ 

The Great Bell of Chio-in Temple . 

Moonlight at Kiyomizu-dera 

A Bamboo Avenue at Kyoto 

A Buddhist Abbot ♦ ♦ . ♦ 

The Pine Tree Junk at Kinkakuji 

HiGASHI HONGWANJI TeMPLE, KyOTO 

A Buddhist Priest and Prayer Wheel . 

An Avenue of Torii at Inari Temple . 

A Fortune Teller at Inari Temple ♦ 

Portrait of a '' Uranaisha '' 

The Bronze Sculptor ♦ 

The Ivory Carvers 

The Embroiderer* 

A Potter at his Wheel 

Painting Awata Pottery 

A Cloisonne Artist 

Namikawa-San Feeding his Carp ♦ 

Namikawa^s Workroom and Staff 

Tea on the Hills and Rice on the Plain ♦ 

Nara the Heart of Old Japan . 

The Kobukuji Pagoda ♦ « , ♦ ♦ 

A Pilgrim at the Kasuga Temple, Nara 

Shooting the Rapids of the Katsura-gawa . 

A Glen on the Katsura-gawa 

Reflections , ♦ ♦ 

The Ha-kei-tei Inn and Garden at Hikone* 



Facing page 194 
196 
199 
202 
204 
206 
209 
211 
212 
214 
217 
220 
223 
225 
228 
230 
233 

234 
236 

239 
244 

248 
249 
252 

257 
260 
264 
265 



xu 



IN LOTUS-LAND 



A Feudal Castle from the Moat 

HiKONE ♦♦»♦♦, 

Carp in the Lake Kumamoto 
Aso-San from the Outer Crater Rim ♦ 
A Public Bath at Kanawa ♦ 
At the Crater^s Brink 
The Girl and the Lantern 
Evening on the Inland Sea 

^^ My Deer!" 

The Old Torii at Miyajima 



Facing page 268 
273 
276 
279 
282 
286 
290 
294 
297 
300 



The copyright of all the plates contained in this book is the sole 
property of H, G. Ponting, 



IN LOTUS-LAND: JAPAN 

CHAPTER I 

THE LAST DAYS OF FEUDALISM 

The name of Commodore Mathew Galbraith Perry^ of the 
United States Navy^ stands out in the history of Japan above 
that of all other foreigners^ for it was the action of this American 
officer which was mainly instrumental in determining the 
Japanese to abandon Feudalism and their policy of isolation^ 
and to adopt western methods of civilisation and government 
as the goal for which they were henceforth to strive* 

As early as 1611 a trading agreement had been granted 
by the Shogun lyeyasu to the Dutch^ mainly through the 
influence exerted on their behalf by the Englishman Will 
Adams^ who^ from the time he was shipwrecked on the shore 
of Japan in 1600^ to his death twenty years later^ was a close 
adviser of the Shogun* Will Adams earned the Shogun's 
respect and friendship by the information he was able to 
furnish regarding foreign affairs^ and by his ability to teach 
the people shipbuilding and other useful crafts, of which the 
Japanese had hitherto but crude ideas* 

The agreement with the Dutch was followed, two years 
later, by a charter from the Shogun to the British East India 
Company, granting them the privilege of trading in any 
Japanese port* The Dutch had, however, by that time become 
strongly entrenched at Hirado, and a rivalry sprang up between 
the traders of the two nations which resulted in the Hollanders 
selling goods at a loss in order to drive their rivals from the 
market* So great was the enmity engendered by .the com- 
petition for trade that open hostilities broke out, and a fleet 
of armed merchant vessels was sent to Japan by the British 



2 IN LOTUS-LAND 

East India Company in i6i7^ In the fighting that ensued, 
the advantage lay with the Dutch, and although a peace was 
patched up, the British retired a few years later from the field, 
having lost an immense amount of money in their efforts to 
establish trading relations* The Dutch, however, continued 
to carry on a profitable business as the only foreign merchants 
in Japan* The Portuguese endeavoured to establish themselves 
some years after the English had retired, but the opposition 
they met with from the Dutch, who were in favour, resulted 
in the Yedo government denying them any privileges, and 
they were driven from the country, whilst their successful 
competitors secured a still firmer footing on the island of 
Deshima, near Nagasaki, in 1640* 

The bickerings and hostility to each other of the European 
traders only served to make the Japanese more suspicious 
than ever of all foreigners; and the policy of exclusion now 
became even more stringent than before; but the learning 
of the Dutch was respected by all who came in contact with 
them, and the little colony near Nagasaki was looked upon as 
a veritable mine of knowledge, for every opportunity was given 
by the colonists, to those who cared to investigate, for en- 
lightenment regarding the more advanced civilisation of 
Europe* The Japanese refused, however, at that time to 
deviate from the course they had laid down as their own, 
and although repeated efforts were made by America, Great 
Britain and Russia to open up intercourse, all resulted in 
complete failure* The Japanese government persistently 
repelled every attempt at communication, and the monopoly 
of foreign trade remained in the hands of the Dutch* 

The United States was affected more so than any other 
country by the attitude of Japan* The opening of many 
Chinese ports to foreign trade, consequent on the treaties 
ratified at the conclusion of the opium wars, resulted in several 
schemes for steamship lines from the Pacific States to the 
Orient* As Japan lay conveniently on the way for coaling 
purposes, it was imperative for the success of any such enter- 
prise that stations should there be established at which coal 



THE LAST DAYS OF FEUDALISM 3 

could be bought^ This necessitated the abandonment of the 
Japanese policy of isolation* Hence, in November 1852, the 
United States Government despatched a squadron of four 
ships — the Mississippi, the Susquehana, the Plymouth, and 
the Saratoga — under the command of Commodore Perry, 
from Norfolk, Virginia, to Japan, via the Cape of Good Hope, 
to endeavour to bring about this result* Commodore Perry 
was invested with full power to take whatever course he 
thought best — force if necessary — to secure certain privileges 
asked for in a letter which he bore from the President of the 
United States to the ruling Shogun* 

Weak as this small squadron was, the terror which it 
inspired when it arrived in Yedo Bay was instrumental in 
securing delivery of the President's letter* Having thus far 
succeeded in his mission, the Commodore then sailed away 
to China, stating he would return the following spring for 
an answer* 

For years past there had been brewing in Japan a rapidly- 
growing revulsion of feeling against the usurpation of the 
Imperial power by the Shogun, and sympathy for the im- 
potent Mikado, who was little more than a prisoner at Kyoto* 

This feeling was manifested openly when it began to be 
seen that, if the conditions asked for by the United States 
were not granted, the country would have to prepare for war, 
after a peace lasting for over two centuries* 

Here was a dilemma indeed! To the Japanese, equipped 
only with obsolete weapons and powerless against a foreign 
foe, the only alternative to abandoning peacefully their policy 
of isolation was to engage in a conflict, the result of which 
was a foregone conclusion* The weight of popular opinion, 
however, was against the opening of the country, and on all 
hands preparations were made for war* Forts were constructed, 
defences put in order, and the manufacture of arms became 
the order of the day* 

About this time the Shogun leyoshi died, and was suc- 
ceeded by his son lesada, who maintained the policy of his 
father, and the situation remained unaltered* Affairs then 



4 IN LOTUS-LAND 

drifted on until the springs when Commodore Perry^ as fore- 
shadowed^ returned — his squadron strengthened by the 
addition of six ships^ a fleet all told of ten vessels of war* 

The moral effect of this display of force was sufficient^ 
for the Japanese had never seen anything like it before^ 
and negotiations were at once entered into at Kanagawa^ near 
Yokohama, where a treaty, which obtained for the United 
States nearly all the privileges demanded, was signed by the 
Shogun on March 31st, 1854* 

This treaty was in the nature of a document preparing 
the way for future intercourse* It merely provided for the 
protection of shipwrecked sailors, and the opening of two 
ports for coaling and provisioning purposes; whilst it was 
agreed that further meetings should be held between the 
Shogun 's Ministers and the American Commissioners regarding 
matters appertaining to trade* It was, however, a beginning 
— the thin end of the wedge that was destined in the end to 
rend asunder the whole fabric of the Feudal System* 

As the treaty embodied the ''Most Favoured Nation^' 
clause, the United States was thus ensured that, in the event 
of any treaty being concluded with any other country granting 
privileges not contained in this agreement, such privileges 
should be extended also to the United States without further 
negotiations* Similar treaties were drawn up with other 
nations shortly afterwards, and in 1857 and 1858 others 
followed, securing trading and other privileges* 

For over forty years it was under these treaties that inter- 
course with foreigners was conducted — the ports of Yoko- 
hama, Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Nagasaki and Hakodate being 
opened to trade, and a duty of five per cent* ad valorem being 
levied on all goods imported* [Since the conflict with Russia 
(1904-5) Japan has adopted exceedingly high protective tariffs*] 

The above events were the cause of a decade of lawlessness 
and outrage, due to the inflamed feeling which now became 
more acute than ever against foreigners* 

Political opinion was divided* The supporters of the 
Shogunate were convinced of the futility of opposing the 



THE LAST DAYS OF FEUDALISM 5 

demands of the western world; whilst the old conservative 
element which rallied around the Mikado in the Western 
capital^ Kyoto^ was bitterly hostile to the new policy entered 
upon by the Shogun^s Government* This^ however^ was not 
strange^ as the latter had had no opportunity of seeing the 
might of the foreigners^ which had been so strikingly demon- 
strated to the people of the Eastern capital^ Yedo. 

The Royalists held that the Shogun had exceeded his 
powers in signing these treaties^ as such privileges were for 
the Mikado alone to grant; and that the agreements were 
therefore not legal* They continued in effect^ however^ and 
the Shogun^s Government was held to answer for the safety 
of foreigners and the protection of trade^ as^ having negotiated 
the treaties^ thus assuming supreme authority^ the Shogunate 
had undertaken the responsibility that the provisions contained 
therein would be observed* 

Swashbucklers now swarmed over the land^ and deeds of 
violence were of daily occurrence* li-Kamon-no-Kami^ the 
Daimyo of Hikone — ^who was acting as Regent for the young 
Shogun lemochi^ who had succeeded lesada — was assassinated 
in 1 86 1 by a band of outlaws of the Mito clan^ whose lord 
had been deprived of office as head of the Anti-Foreign Party 
by the Regent* Other outrages followed^ resulting in the death 
or injury of members of the foreign legations^ the Government 
being quite powerless to prevent such acts of violence* 

Of these unfortunate incidents the most regrettable was 
that known as the ^'Richardson affair/^ in which the foreign 
victims were to blame^ for havings by their foolish action^ 
brought their fate upon their own heads* A brief account 
of the famous incident will serve to illustrate something of 
the customs and feeling of the time* 

Shima2;u Saburo — the powerful acting Daimyo of the 
province of Satsuma^ in the island of Kiushu — ^went^ in the 
spring of 1862^ to Kyoto, to confer with the Mikado regarding 
the adoption of measures to expel the hated foreign ''bar- 
barians'^ from the land* The Satsuma clan was one of the 
strongest in Japan, and the great retinue with which the chief 



6 IN LOTUS-LAND 

was accompanied became reinforced on its way to the capital 
by a number of ronin — disaffected samurai ^ who had deserted^ 
or been outlawed from^ their clans — who were seeking a leader 
to direct them in their contemplated schemes for ridding the 
country of the objects of their hatred^ the foreigners* These 
men were desperadoes who were prepared to stop at nothing 
in the accomplishment of their designs^ and their presence 
in the cavalcade constituted a ruffianly element which the 
loyal and trained samurai band of Satsuma lacked entirely 
when it started on the march* 

Having met and advised the Mikado at Kyoto^ the Daimyo 
proceeded to Yedo^ where he requested a hearing from the 
Shogun^ in order to lay before him plans for the expulsion of 
the foreigners^ and the consequent suppression of the rebellious 
spirit which was growing daily stronger all over the land* 

The Shogun refused him an audience, and the Daimyo 
started on his return journey smarting with the sting of the 
failure of his mission* 

The highway from Yedo to Kyoto — the old Tdkaido — 
passes by the fishing village of Kanagawa; and whilst the long 
procession — horsemen, foot soldiers and attendants to the 
number of nearly a thousand men — ^was passing near the 
outskirts of this place, it met an English lady and three 
gentlemen who were riding on horseback* 

Japanese etiquette of the road demanded that a Daimyo 's 
caravan should not only have right of way, but that the in- 
habitants of villages through which it passed should not even 
so much as look upon it* Notice was usually sent on ahead 
when a Daimyo expected to pass through a town, or along a 
road; and that road, or portion of the town, became, for the 
time being, as in a land of the dead* 

Either ignorant of, or disregarding, the course which 
custom demanded that chance travellers should pursue — 
namely to dismount, and stand beside the road, and bow to 
the Daimyo ^s norimono as it was carried past — the party rode 
on, until the angry looks with which the soldiers regarded 

^ The samurai were the warrior class of feudal days — the gentry of old Japan, 




Copyright Ihidericood fn- Under-a'ood. 



ON THE OLD TOKAIDO 



THE LAST DAYS OF FEUDALISM 7 

them convinced two of the riders that it would be wiser to 
turn aside* But another^ Mr* Chas* L* Richardson — a resident 
of China who was visiting Japan^ and who knew little of the 
Japanese and their ways — would not hear of it^ thinking that 
the people could be treated with the same disdain as foreigners 
in China exhibited towards the Chinese* As he was about to 
pass the Daimyo^s palanquin without dismounting^ a samurai^ 
incensed beyond control by the hated foreigner's wanton 
insult to his chiefs rushed at Richardson^ and struck him a 
fatal blow in the side with a heavy sword* The other two 
gentlemen^ who were also attacked and severely wounded^ 
and the lady^ who fortunately escaped unhurt from the blow 
which was aimed at her^ fled to Kanagawa* 

It was the unanimous opinion of foreigners in Japan that 
the victim had brought his fate upon himself; yet an indemnity 
of £100,000 was demanded by Great Britain from the Japanese 
Government, and a large sum in addition from the Satsuma 
Daimyo, as well as the surrender of the assassin for punish- 
ment* These demands were refused, and in consequence a 
British squadron under Admiral Kuper arrived off Kagoshima, 
the Satsuma capital, in August 1862. Though the Japanese 
guns killed the captain of the flagship and sixty members of 
the crew, and a terrific storm raged at the time, the town was 
shelled and burnt, and the Daimyo's batteries and ships 
destroyed* The indemnity demanded was then paid; but the 
assassin was never handed over to expiate his crime, as it was 
contended his identity was not known* 

Just previously to these events occurred an incident which 
made Shimonoseki famous* 

The Choshu Daimyo, who also was a bitter hater of for- 
eigners, undertook to close the Shimonoseki Strait — ^which 
forms the principal western entrance to the Inland Sea — 
against the ships of foreign nations* Accordingly he fortified 
the shores and placed warships to guard the channel* 

In June 1863 an American steamer, the Pembroke, on 
passing through the Strait, was fired at, though without effects 
Two weeks later a French gunboat was attacked and severely 



8 IN LOTUS-LAND 

damaged ♦ Next a Dutch man-of-war was fired upon; but 
she returned the fire with interest^ and inflicted much greater 
damage than she received* 

On these happenings becoming known^ an American war- 
ships the Wyoming, proceeded from Yokohama to avenge the 
hostile acts and on the i6th of July she engaged the Daimyo's 
shipss sinking one and crippling another* A few days later 
two French warships appeared; a force of men was landed 
and the batteries were destroyed* 

Negotiations were then entered into by the Treaty Powers 
to ensure their ships the right to navigate the Inland Sea 
without molestation* The Shogun's Government evinced its 
willingness to do all in its power towards granting the demands^ 
but admitted that its impotency rendered it incapable of sup- 
pressing the obstreperous Choshu noble* Hence^ a fleet of 
British^ French^ Dutch and American warships were sent from 
Yokohama on 28th August^ 1864^ to destroy all offensive works 
found in the neighbourhood of the Strait^ and to reduce the 
hostile Daimyo to a state of subjection* 

This result was attained at once^ for the Choshu chiefs 
seeing the futility of offering any resistance against the force^ 
surrendered^ and agreed henceforth to act in accordance with 
the wishes of the Yedo Government* 

An indemnity of £600^000 was exacted by the Powers 
concerned^ to cover the cost of the expedition* This was 
divided between Great Britain^ France^ Holland and the 
United States^ after the latter three Powers had deducted 
from the total a large sum as recompense for injury to their 
shipSs and imaginary damage to their prestige* 

Seeing that the Yedo Government was in no way respon- 
sible for the hostility of the Daimyo^ and was doing its feeble 
best to quell the anti-foreign feeling in the land^ the wringing 
of this great sum from its impoverished coffers^ to cover the 
entire cost of a quite unnecessarily powerful force^ stands on 
record as the most unjust incident that has marked the inter- 
course of the Foreign Powers with Japan* 

[To the credit of the United States^ the American Govern- 



THE LAST DAYS OF FEUDALISM 9 

ment twenty years later refunded to Japan its entire share 
in the indemnity — Le. the principal^ without interest; but 
up to the present time none of the other Powers has shown 
any disposition to follow this righteous example*] 

Lessons like this served to convince the staunchest 
supporters of Feudalism the futility of contending against 
the foreigners on anything like equal terms; and the con- 
viction rapidly grew^ that if Japan was to remain an inde- 
pendent power^ she must abandon her present unsatisfactory 
methods of government^ begin at once to purchase modern 
ships of war^ and adopt a military system based upon that 
of western nations* 

Such were the main events which led to the abandonment 
of the dual government* 

The Shogun lemochi died on the 19th of September^ 1866; 
and on the 3rd of February^ 1867^ the Mikado Komei died^ and 
was succeeded by his son Mutsohito^ who was fifteen years of age* 

Disaffection and strong party feeling grew stronger day 
by day throughout the land until the new Shogun Yoshinobu 
resigned^ having been urged to do so by the Daimyo of Tdsa^ 
one of the sagest and most diplomatic nobles in Japan* He 
represented to the Shogun that the cause of the nation's 
troubles lay in the fact that it was divided in twain by reason 
of the lack of unity and harmony of action between the rival 
governments; and that if the Japanese were to become a 
homogeneous people^ the dual government must be abandoned^ 
and the affairs of the nation henceforth be administered under 
one head* 

Even after this radical change was effected^ much fighting 
ensued, for several Daimyos were bitterly opposed to it and 
devoted to the cause of the Shogun whom they desired to 
reinstate* These, with their samurai, rallied round Ydshinobu, 
who was in retirement at Osaka, where, whilst he had nominally 
abdicated, he still continued, at the request of the young 
Emperor Mutsohito, to direct the administration of foreign 
affairs* But this excited much jealousy among the Daim- 
yos who supported the Royalist cause* They desired to 



10 IN LOTUS-LAND 

see the Shogun shorn of all power whatsoever^ and this 
they finally persuaded the Emperor to effect* Consequently 
the early months of 1868 were days of continual strife between 
the Royalists and the Shogun^s troops* The most serious of 
these collisions occurred near Kyoto at the end of January^ 
and resulted in the complete rout of the rebels* The ex- 
Shogun escaped^ a fugitive^ to Yedo^ and his stronghold^ the 
castle of Osaka^ the strongest in all Japan^ was burnt down 
to its massive stone foundations* 

More fighting ensued in the norths but the victory always 
lay with the Royalist forces* Finally^ however^ the partisans 
of the Shogun saw the futility of resisting the growing power 
of the Mikado^ and laid down their arms* 

The events of that period form some of the most interesting 
reading in the history of Japan* Those were days of stirring 
heroism and self-sacrifice: of the struggle of brave men for 
all the traditions they most loved and cherished* Old Japan 
was dying and they knew it^ but the changed conditions 
which the foreigner had brought made the onward march of 
events irresistible* 

On the 8th of February^ 1868^ the last remnant of the 
fabric of Feudalism fell when the Emperor officially notified 
the foreign representatives that henceforth the reins of govern- 
ment would be held by him alone* 

Thus was the Reformation effected^ and the period of 
Meiji, the ''Enlightened Era/' established* 



CHAPTER II 

TOKYO BAY 

From the time we left San Francisco's fine harbour behind 
us^ few had been the daylight hours when the heavens were 
not mirrored in the ocean* The sun sank each evening in a 
cloudless sky ahead of us^ only to reappear next morning in 
a cloudless sky astern^ and each successive day had been a 
repetition of the lovely day preceding it* It was a record voyage 
for weather* No one on board could remember the like* The 
end of it came at last, however, as it does to all good things; 
but to the final hour of the voyage the kindly fate that had 
befriended us never deserted us, and the last evening was 
even more beautiful than all the others had been, for the moon 
was full, the night as romantic as a night at sea can be, and 
the very air seemed laden with the spirit of the land of our 
dreams that would soon be a dream-land no more* 

I was up next morning long ere the first streaks of dawn 
had dimmed the brilliancy of the moonlight* We were due to 
anchor at Yokohama soon after daybreak, and, as I came on 
deck, soft, balmy bree2;es, borne of our rapid progress, whis- 
pered gently in my ears, and bore on their wings the scent of 
land* I went up to the bow, and saw that as the sharp prow 
parted the glassy waters which mirrored the starry heavens, 
feathers of spray leaped high along the vessel's trim and 
tapering sides, and burned with a ghostly light which spread 
around the ship, so that she seemed to be gliding through a 
sea of fire* Seldom have I seen the ocean so phosphorescent 
in any part of the world* 

We were steaming just off the entrance to Tokyo Bay, and 
now and then a junk, or some smaller fishing-boat, loomed 
suddenly out of the night, drifted like a phantom across the 

II 



12 IN LOTUS-LAND 

silvery path of the moonlight^ and passed on as suddenly 
again into the dusky shadows* As the day began to breaks 
these craft increased in number and distinctness until many 
hundreds of them were to be seen^ homeward-bound after the 
work of the night* The great sails of the junks looked silken 
as they hung listlessly in a hundred tiny festoons that threw 
soft shadows on the white; and the smaller boats^ the sampans 
— ^with the half-nude figures of the fishermen swinging to and 
fro against the background of the moonlit water^ as they 
worked the long sweeps^ called yulos — formed a novel and 
delightful picture which filled me with anticipation of what 
was to come* 

Whilst my attention was absorbed with the fishing-boats 
the morning rapidly grew^ and now the delicate outline of that 
loveliest of all mountains of the earth — that wondrous inspira- 
tion of Japanese art^ Fuji-san — ^was softly painted on the 
western skies* 

The grey of dawn was shot with pink^ and blue^ and amber^ 
and high in the iridescent a2;ure^ far above the night-mists 
clinging to the land^ the virgin cone of Fuji hung from the 
vault of heaven* 

Then in the blushing east there was a flashy and the great 
red sun rose slowly above the hills of B5shu^ tinging the skies 
with a ruddy glow^ and staining all pink and rosy the snows 
on Fuji's crest* Over the holy mountain the moon was palings 
and innumerable junks^ with idle sails^ lay becalmed on the 
mother-o '-pearl waters of the Bay* 

Many times since then I have seen the peerless Fuji* 
Under every condition of sunshine^ storm^ and snow^ and at 
every hour from dawn till sunset^ in springs summer, autumn 
and winter I have gasjed at it from a score of places within 
twenty miles of its base; but never did the great sacred moun- 
tain appear lovelier than during that first hour I spent in 
Japanese waters* 

So this was Japan! My fondest dreams had created no 
such scenes as these from which to form my first impressions, 
and from that day it has always seemed to me that if the fitness 



TOKYO BAY 13 

of things could be more strikingly exemplified than in the 
adoption by the Japanese of the red disc of the rising sun as 
the emblem of their empire^ it would be in their having the 
outline of the sacred Fuji on their flag instead^ 

Twice since this^ my first visits I have entered Tokyo Bay 
in drizzling rain^ and had I not known what there was behind 
the mists^ I should have had but a doleful idea of my dream- 
land* Japan is a wet country in the spring-time^ and Fuji so 
chary of displaying its charms that the mountain sometimes 
sulks for weeks together in impenetrable banks of clouds* 
Those^ therefore^ who arrive when the sun is shining^ and 
Fuji is in complaisant mood^ may deem themselves favoured 
of the gods — at least the Japanese gods — and should be 
thankful for the honour* 



CHAPTER III 

THE FLOWER FESTIVALS OF TOKYO 

Most visitors endeavour to arrive in Japan in springs in time 
to see the Cherry-blossom Festivals* 

Reverence for flowers is one of the most charming char- 
acteristics of the Japanese* They are not flower-lovers^ however^ 
in the sense that Europeans are^ for they care not for every 
flower* They love only a few; but these few they love in a 
different way from any other people* Their love amounts 
almost to worship* They hold great festivals in honour of their 
favourites^ and they flock to famous spots to view them by 
hundreds of thousands* 

For a brief week or two each year^ all Japan is a very shrine 
to Flora^ as any one who has been there in spring-time can 
affirm* It is a land of a2;aleas and cherry-blossoms* The face 
of the country smiles with them^ and the latter are far more 
symbolical of the Empire of the Rising Sun than the 
chrysanthemum^ which forms the Imperial crest* 

If trees be included in the category^ the flower-festivals 
of Tokyo begin with the first day of the year^ when everybody 
goes round visiting his neighbour to wish him ^^Shinnen o 
medeto go^aimas'^ — ^the equivalent for our own greeting at 
that season* New Yearns Day is the festival of the bamboo 
and the pine^ and every house-door is decorated with these 
evergreens — the one emblematical of straight and honourable 
dealing; the other of long life and good fortune* 

The real flowers begin with the plum-blossoms^ which 
burst late in February and bloom well on into March* In 
Tokyo^ Kameido is one of the most famous places to see them^ 
for in the gardens of this old Shinto temple are gnarled and 
tortured veteran trees that creeps and writhe, and twist them- 

14 



THE FLOWER FESTIVALS OF TOKYO 15 

selves into armzing contortions along the surface of the ground 
before they raise their heads ; and because of their reptile-like 
shapes they are called the ^'Recumbent Dragons/' 

Tokyo can scarcely claim to rank among the most beautiful 
cities of the worlds yet there are times when the Japanese 
capital glows with beauty* These are the occasions of the 
Cherry-blossom Festivals; and of all Japanese floral displays 
none can compare with April's glorious pageant* 

It must be a sorrowful or spiritless soul that does not fill 
with gladness in the sweet Japanese spring-time* The joy of 
it is in the very air* The thrill of it lends a glitter to every 
eye* The whole land awaits breathlessly the opening of 
the favourite buds^ and important newspapers devote long 
paragraphs to their notice* 

In 1905 I asked a Japanese friend if he observed much 
excitement among the people over the near approach of the 
Russian Baltic fleet* 

^*They are already too excited about the cherry-blossoms 
to think of it/' he answered* 

If you are fortunate enough to be in Tokyo in early April, 
the stream of eager humanity which surges eastwards across 
the broad Sumida-gawa will surely gather you in its vortex^ 
From every side the people come^ and the crowds grow thicker 
as the A2;uma bridge is approached* They are hastening to 
see a truly beautiful sights for on the left bank of the river is 
Mukdjima — an avenue of cherry-trees^ a mile long^ which is 
one glorious mass of blossom* Japanese cherry-blossoms are 
pink^ not white like ours, and from a distance the trees resemble 
a bank of clouds softly flushed by the evening afterglow* 

Under this exquisite canopy Carnival is King, and from 
morning till long after midnight the avenue rings with music 
and shouts of revelry and laughter, for Mukdjima is the festival 
of the bourgeoisie. The river is crowded with house-boats, 
and under the spreading branches the avenue is lined with 
impromptu tea-houses and refreshment stalls* Sake is in 
evidence everywhere* Nearly every one of the merry-makers 
carries a gourd of it at his belt, and the crowd is beaming 



i6 IN LOTUS-LAND 

with rubicund sake faces* Everybody is good-natured^ for 
the intoxication set up by the insipid rice-distilled spirit does 
not seem to make for contentiousness^ but only to render the 
carouser^s spirits more convivial and hilarious* Reeling sake- 
drinkers offer their gourds, to every kindred spirit^ and con- 
stantly replenish them from the hogsheads at the wayside 
stalls^ whilst people who have never seen each other before are 
in a minute the best of friends^ and cementing their vows of 
lifelong amity with draughts of the national beverage^ as they 
hang on each other^s necks* False moustaches^ whiskers^ and 
noses make caricatures of the revellers^ and wandering geikin 
and samisen players set every one into merry peals of laughter^ 
as they pick their way through the crowds twanging accom- 
paniments to their comic and topical songs as they go* The 
crowd is warm with humanity^ joyous with humour^ and 
amiable with courtesy* No irascibility or pugnaciousness 
mars the merriment^ and roughness is conspicuous by its 
absence^ for the Japanese crowd is a lovable crowd — the best 
behaved and tempered in the world* 

At night-time each tree and tea-house is festooned with 
paper lanterns^ and the dainty^ fairy-like screen of pink over- 
head is suffused with their soft glow^ which falls on the 
gay kimono of many a butterfly geisha in the passing 
throng below* 

One season^ prompted by the sight of the people's joy^ my 
old friend Professor Edwin Emerson of Tokyo was inspired 
to paint the gladsome throng in verse* Before the blossoms 
had fallen he presented me with a leaflet^ fresh from the press^ 
bearing the following lines^ which describe the merry scene 
with a grace that a mere chronicler in prose can only envy 
as he quotes them: 

THE CHERRY-BLOSSOMS AT TOKYO 

Ohl just see the people go; 
Old and young, the fast and slow, 
Haste to see the splendid show 
Of the lovely cherry-blossoms. 



THE FLOWER FESTIVALS OF TOKYO 17 

How the crowds pass blithely by. 
Cheered by the resplendent sky I 
Eager as the birds that fly 

Swiftly to the cherry-blossoms. 

Larger crowds are seldom seen; 
Nothing rude, or low, or mean 
Mars the pleasure of the scene; 
Lovers these of cherry-blossoms. 

What a mass of flowers at hand I 
So distinctive of this land; 
Raptured groups of people stand 
Spell-bound by the cherry-blossoms. 

Worshippers of nature's grace. 
Love of flowers marks this race ; 
Highest joy beams in each face 
At the sight of cherry-blossoms. 

Flowers — how divine the sight; 
Earth's own stars in colours bright; 
With sweet fragrance to delight; 
Charming are the cherry-blossoms. 

Verses hanging from the trees 
Flutter with each passing breeze; 
Vows, and hymns, and odes are these. 
Prompted by the cherry-blossoms. 

Just as Mukdjima is the people's festival^ so Uyeno in 
cherry-blossom time is the resort of the elite. Uyeno is a 
magnificent old park^ where the bodies of six of those great 
military rulers of feudal Japan^ the Shoguns^ lie entombed^ 
beneath massive monuments of bron^e^ in the grounds of 
gorgeously-lacquered memorial temples that are among the 
finest architectural features of the land. The approaches to 
these shrines are gravelled avenues of great widths lined with 
cherry-trees which spread their branches wide and form a 
veritable sea of diaphanous blossom* Whichever way one 
looks^ great foaming billows of soft pink fill the view, and 
from the billows a delicate perfume falls. Along the smooth 
roadways dainty Japanese ladies drive in carriages and motor- 
cars, dressed in soft greys, and fawns, and quiet neutral tints; 



i8 IN LOTUS-LAND 

whilst under the great spreading trees the pedestrians walk 
with dignity and decorum* This is the Bois of Tokyo^ and 
neither when the cherry-trees are bloomings nor at any other 
time^ are there the gay and festive scenes that characterised 
the saturnalia by the river* 

Besides the two celebrated places named^ there are many 
others within the city precincts where the show is of almost 
equal beauty* The Edo-gawa^ a river running through the 
eastern portion of the town^ has both its banks lined with 
avenues of trees bearing the lovely double blossoms* The 
moat around the Imperial Palace — beautiful at any season — 
in April is a lake in Arcady* The British Embassy looks 
out upon a forest of cherry-trees* Asakusa is embosomed 
in another clump* Shokonsha becomes a perfect fairyland* 
The lovely Shiba Park — filled with temples raised centuries 
ago in memory of departed Shoguns : temples which rival in 
beauty and grandeur the far-famed shrines of Nikko — is a 
forest where the cherry-blossoms gleam^ in contrast to the 
deep-green cedars^ with a beauty indescribable^ and where 
every courtyard is fragrant with the flowers that fill it* Then 
every private garden has its cherry-tree or two^ and Atago- 
yama^ the city^s Prospect Hill^ is crowned with them* The 
gardens of the Government Offices are filled with them* The 
Crown Prince's Palace is buried in them^ and every noble- 
man's mansion is surrounded with them* Even great modern 
breweries have so far condescended to pander to the national 
sentiment as to grace their compounds with the tree on 
which the beloved flower grows* Tokyo^ in fact^ for its whole 
length and bi'eadth, in April beams with the joyous blossoms* 
The entire city is one great show of them^ and for that month 
at least the Japanese capital is probably the most beautiful 
city in the world* 

The peony is the next to reign^ and holds its levees every- 
where* At many a florist's garden shows are held^ where 
magnificent blooms are to be seen* Then the azaleas set the 
gardens at Okubo on fire^ and make each famous mountain- 
resort a bla2;e of glorious colour* 



THE FLOWER FESTIVALS OF TOKYO 19 

Early May is heralded by the most graceful and delicate 
of all Japanese flowers^ and with the blossoming of the wistarias 
one feels that summer is indeed at hand* The gardens of 
Kameido are again the favourite spot^ and thousands go to 
see them* The grounds of the old temple^ sacred to Tenjin- 
sama^ are an enchanting sights for the pond winding amongst 
the islands is completely surrounded by tea-arbours^ from the 
trellised roofs of which depend miracles of white and purple 
floral stalactites* 

Many of the pendent blooms are of almost incredible 
length — 3. yard or more — and above them a dense canopy of 
foliage grows^ shutting off all direct light from the sky* But 
the blossoms all hang downwards^ and under these lovely 
bowers aesthetic flower-worshippers sit in the cool^ scented 
shade^ and meditate and improvise poems which they tie to 
the floral wonders by which they are inspired* Merely to rest 
for hours on end in this flower paradise and ga^e and think 
in silence is pleasure enough to thousands of the quiet^ well- 
conducted nature lovers; and at Kameido one sees none of 
the Bacchanalian merriment attendant on the April scenes 
at Mukdjima* 

One absorbed observer had brought his opera-glasses^ 
and^ though he sat but a yard below the blossoms^ was busy 
surveying them from that distance* In another place an 
excited group could scarcely contain their glee over the move- 
ments of a bumble-bee that hnzz^d from flower to flower 
above them* Everywhere these busy creatures were loading 
themselves with honey* One of them tried to settle on a pretty 
little child near me* I told her it was because she was so 
sweet, and the compliment caused a merry ring of laughter 
from all who heard it* 

Bands of schoolgirls and schoolboys are conducted round 
the gardens, the beauty of the flowers being dilated on by their 
teachers* Hundreds of soldiers and sailors come out to view 
the blossoms, too* As each fresh party arrive they hang over 
the bamboo rail and clap their hands; but clap they never 
so loudly, it is all in vain, for the huge carp, which live in the 



20 IN LOTUS-LAND 

green pond below^ loaf under the projecting verandahs^ gorged 
with the cakes that everybody throws them, and deaf to all 
appeals to feed* Occasionally; however, a great red beauty 
glides out lazily and unconcernedly to gobble in another mouth- 
ful; or, seemingly infected with the prevailing epidemic of 
gladness, dashes up from the depths and leaps out of the 
water, to the intense delight of the picnickers* Sometimes a 
tortoise comes paddling to the surface, causing an equal diver- 
sion; but, like the carp, though cakes and mochi be showered 
at him, he is obdurate, and can seldom be cajoled to touch 
them* May is certainly the month of months for the carp and 
tortoises of Kameido* 

Everywhere about the gardens there are rapt individuals 
composing verses, and painters faithfully depicting in water- 
colours the beauty of the scenes; whilst strolling players roam 
the grounds playing pretty catching airs upon the geikin* 

Busy little neisans run about replenishing tea-pots, or 
bringing fresh supplies of cakes, and, if the day be warm, 
glasses of shaved-ice and fruit-syrup are called for by everyone* 

There are toy and nick-nack sellers, whose stalls display, 
amongst other dainty things, wonderfully natural paper wis- 
tarias, and pretty pins for the hair adorned with tiny silken 
sprays of the flower* There are also sellers of paper carp, and 
merchants whose stalls are all a-glitter with tiny globes of 
goldfish* Then there is the tortoise-man at every few yards 
you go* He has a score of the shelly creatures, hanging by 
their legs, and, if you like, you can buy one for a price ranging 
from a penny to threepence, and by returning it to the pond 
earn a little grace from Tenjin-sama* Many of these creatures 
have been fished out and sold some scores of times, and have 
thus earned quite a nice little sum for those who have the 
right to catch them* 

Stone lanterns and curiously-trained trees are scattered 
about the temple grounds, and there are semicircular moon 
bridges — ^so called because the reflection makes a perfect 
ring — to cross which is no mean feat for a foreign lady visitor 
if she happen to be shod with dainty high-heeled shoes* She 




A WISTARIA ARBOUR AT KAMEIDO 



THE FLOWER FESTIVALS OF TOKYO 21 

will accomplish the ascent easily enough, but wait till she 
has finished viewing the pretty scene from this elevated point 
of view and starts to descend ! Just wait a little and watch her, 
and watch the Japanese faces too, and see how amused they 
are at the dilemma of my lady! She reaches terra firma with- 
out a fall, but her descent is not exactly dignified, and she 
has amused the interested flower-worshippers vastly with her 
antics* There is a level footway beside the arch, but to take 
the more difficult path over the bridge to the temple is a 
meritorious act, and young people skip nimbly over it all day 
long, whilst even the old and shaky do not always shirk the task* 

At dusk every arbour and tea-house is hung with pretty 
paper lanterns, for the night phase of the flowers is admired 
as well as the daytime effects, and the last visitors do not 
pass out under the grey old temple gateway until well on 
towards the small hours* 

There is no sweeter season in Japan than ^*when May 
glides onward into June,*^ for under the gentle influence of 
the sunny days that warm the earth another of the fairest 
flowers of the East bursts into blossom, and the first week of 
Summer is marked by the Festival of the Iris* 

To see this stately flower at its best you must go along the 
Mukojima cherry-avenue — now all green with leafy shade — 
and turn to the right at the end of the long parade of trees, 
when you will find yourself among the gardens of Hori-kiri* 
This is the most famous place in Japan for irises : many acres 
are covered with the elegant beauties* 

Sprinkled about the gardens, on tiny hill-tops and in 
pretty nooks, there are rustic tea-houses, from which, as you 
sip the golden beverage that is never wanting for two con- 
secutive hours in this land, you can look out upon a vari- 
coloured sea of such irises as were never seen before* 

Many are of truly regal proportions, measuring a foot 
from tip to tip of the petals, and all are grown in serried ranks 
— ^vast battalions of floral Ama^^ons, marshalled into regiments 
of complementary hues* Most of the flowers are white, but 
there are reds, and yellows, and blues, and a dozen shades of 



22 IN LOTUS-LAND 

lilac and purple^ and some are shot and streaked with colour, 
whilst others have coloured spots and blotches* 

Along the narrow pathways that divide the beds admiring 
Japanese ladies walk, fairer still to look upon in their pretty 
native costumes than the flowers themselves; and from the 
bordering tea-houses the tinkling of samisens rings out across 
the gardens, for many can only enjoy to the full such festive 
occasions when sharing them in the companionship of the 
merry geisha* Black-haired, brown-eyed little Hebes flit about 
among the flowers with trays of tea and cakes to the various 
summer-houses; and the clapping of hands, which summons 
the busy maids, with their answering shouts of ** Hai,^^ come 
from all directions* Nobody is in a hurry except these smiling 
lasses, and all can well afford to wait their turn when there is 
so much beauty to wonder at* Artists are sketching every- 
where; foreign tourists snap away yards and yards of film to 
help to swell the Kodak dividends, and a do2;en spectacled 
Japanese photographers are getting pretty '*bits'^ for post- 
cards* Every visitor, as he pays his bill, is presented with a 
few budding spears by the little maid who has waited on him* 
These he proudly bears home in his rikisha as a token of a 
happy hour or two spent at Hori-kiri* 

Nothing could be more appropriate than that the Emperor^s 
birthday should be the 3rd of November, as the season of the 
glorious chrysanthemum is then at its height, and the chrysan- 
themum is the Imperial crest* There are people of lesser degree 
who also boast the flower as their family device, but not the 
chrysanthemum of sixteen petals* Others may have fourteen, 
fifteen, seventeen, or as many more or less as they like, but 
to use the sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum as a badge is the 
exclusive prerogative of royalty* 

Regal as the chrysanthemum is, both in appearance and 
as an emblem, it is yet held only second in general esteem* 
The cherry-blossoms easily surpass every other flower in 
popular favour* But the cherry-blossoms are Nature^s work, 
whilst the chrysanthemum is a toy with which the Japanese 
gardener plays with as he wills — and play with it he does in 



THE FLOWER FESTIVALS OF TOKYO 23 

manner truly marvellous* He accomplishes veritable miracles* 
At the Temple show in London^ or at any other horticultural 
display in Europe or America^ you may see great shock-headed 
beauties as large in diameter as a dinner plate; but the Japanese 
master-gardener of to-day laughs at such easy triumphs* 
**Who would find any difficulty in producing such^*^' 
he asks* ''You have but to carefully tend and feed a plants 
and let it concentrate its whole productiveness into yielding 
one enormous blossom^ and the thing is done**' The Japanese 
gardener has long since passed the stage when such successes 
satisfied him* Instead of producing one towsled monster on 
a single stem^ he will make that stem bear such a number 
of creditable blooms as^ unless one has seen the result with 
one's own eyes^ sounds utterly incredible* However^ ''seeing 
is believing/' and when once I had the privilege of being 
conducted by Count Okuma to view his unrivalled display^ 
I counted on one huge plant over twelve hundred chrysanthe- 
mums growing from a single stem, and few of the blossoms were 
less than four inches in diameter* The main stem was as thick 
as my thumbs and the branches of the plant were carefully 
trained on a light bamboo framework into the form of a cone^ 
the bottom ring of which was eight feet in diameter and had 
about a hundred blossoms in it, whilst each higher ring de- 
creased in size and the number of flowers it contained^ until 
the apex was formed by a single bloom* 

That was the most convincing proof I have ever seen of 
the mastery which the Japanese gardener attains* Such aston- 
ishing results as this are rare^ however^ even in Japan, as only 
those who have reached the highest pinnacle of skill can 
achieve them* 

The great popular Chrysanthemum Festival of Tokyo is 
held at Dango-^aka; but it is less beautiful than curious, 
and is as much a Madame Tussaud's or an Eden Musee as 
a flower show* One does not go there only to see leviathan 
blooms, nor yet the result of efforts to produce hundreds 
of average-si2;ed blossoms on a single stem* The show is 
a perfect fair of oddities* 



24 IN LOTUS-LAND 

The road up Dango hill is lined with booths and tents^ 
filled with composition-faced figures clothed from head to 
foot in tiny chrysanthemums* The figures are life-si^e^ and 
made out of a network of cane. Concealed from view^ behind 
and within this framewbrk^ the plants are placed with roots 
packed in damp earth, moss, and straw, and the flowers are 
drawn carefully through the interstices to form a smooth and 
even face on the front of the figure* The heads and hands are 
made wonderfully life-like out of composition, but all else is 
made with flowers* No leaves, or stems, or anything but 
flowers are visible, and these continue to bloom for several 
weeks under the care of the gardeners who water and trim 
them as required* 

Staged in this manner you may see famous scenes from 
history and legend* Perhaps one booth may have a scene from 
the tragedy of the Forty-seven Ronins; the piece de resistance 
in another may likely enough illustrate the finding of the Robe 
of Feathers; or the great swordsmith Masamune forging a 
blade; or any one of a thousand well-known and oft-depicted 
incidents such as appeal to everyone* Before these groups the 
people stand riveted to the spot with admiration, and the 
tents re-echo with many a *' Naruhodo T^ ^ from the slowly 
passing crowd* 

Then, again, celebrated landscapes are sometimes repro- 
duced in miniature, the whole scene being worked out in tiny 
chrysanthemums of many colours* As you leave each booth 
a score of touters shout invitations to you to visit their shows, 
and hold expectantly before your eyes printed sheets giving 
an outline of the attractions to be seen within* One can see 
half a do^en shows for a shilling, and a shilling's-worth of 
Dango-2;aka will last most people for a lifetime* 

Behind the waxwork shows there are sheds where flowers 
sent for exhibition and competition are displayed, and here 
one can see overgrown prodigies looking very aristocratic and 
dignified on their lonely stalks, or a happy family of a few 
hundred blooms springing from a common stem* 

^ An expression of appreciation or wonder. 



THE FLOWER FESTIVALS OF TOKYO 25 

To see the greatest marvels of the Japanese horticulturist's 
art^ however^ you must seek the goodwill of some enthusiastic 
grower and be a guest at his November garden-party. 

But the regal chrysanthemum does not hold the stage 
alone in the final tableaux of the year's floral pageants. There 
is yet another scene — the dying maple-leaves^ which are 
thought by many to be the most beautiful sight that Japan 
has to show> They certainly share the honours of autumn 
with the Imperial flower^ and are so beloved as to hold full 
floral rank* Japanese maples are a beautiful sight at any season 
of the year; they are always warm with colour^ and even in 
spring-time form contrasts to the bright surrounding greens; 
but when the first breath of winter tints them deeper still the 
maple-trees are lovely as though decked with blossoms. The 
glen of the Takino-gawa^ at Oji^ in the northern suburbs^ is a 
particularly gorgeous sight at this season. Almost every tree 
is a maple^ and from the river to the bordering hill-tops the 
woods are resplendent with russet^ red^ and gold. Great 
paper-manufacturing mills^ near by^ disturb the stillness of 
the peaceful glen with their continuous roar^ and stain the 
autumn skies with the smoke from their ugly chimneys. Such 
things are but some of the penalites of progress, and Japan 
has long since found that progress has its attendant evils. 

There is still another flower, but though it unfolds its 
glory in the height of summer I have left it until the last, be- 
cause, of all the flowers that the Japanese mostly love, it alone 
has no festival. It is the lotus — the flower whose physical and 
symbolic beauty inspired the title of this volume. 

There is no gladsome fete for the lotus, for it is no flower 
of joy and frolic. The lotus is a food. Its roots and seeds are 
eaten in Japan. Besides, too, it has a deeper, allegorical meaning. 
It is a Buddhist emblem — the symbol of triumph over self; 
of extinction of the fires of passion; of abnegation and self- 
control. The delicate blooms are also the token for all that is 
best in man and woman; for, because the plant thrives best 
when growing in the foulest mud, and raises its great pink 
blossoms high above the poisonous slime below to open petals 



a6 IN LOTUS-LAND 

of surpassing beauty to the morning sun^ they typify a chaste 
and noble heart — ^unstained^ unsullied^ and untouched by the 
insidious breath of evil with which life is permeated — opening 
to the light of truth and knowledge* 

People are to be seen astir early in the garden where the 
lotus grows* They come to see the great blossoms^ which 
close at eventide^ unfold their petals to the rising sun* But 
few come to the garden of the lotus in festive mood* Most 
come to watch^ and meditate in silence^ and to pray; for the 
holy flower^ beautiful as it is to the eye^ brings often only 
memories of sorrow to the heart* Who that has not sounded 
something of the soul of this people can know anything of the 
pain that sometimes wrings the heart of the Japanese when 
visiting the garden of the sacred flower ""that shrinks into 
itself at evening hour'^^* The subdued demeanour and sad 
faces of the early wanderers too often show that they are 
nursing grief within, and plainly tell of sorrowful memories 
recalled by the blooms; for the lotus is not only the token of 
truth, and light, and purity, but is also a symbol of that grim 
Reaper whose path is wet with tears* It is the Buddhist emblem 
of Death* For a few weeks only the flowers display their glory* 
Then the ponds become all unkempt, bedraggled, and forlorn 
with dying stalks and leaves* They are a sad, depressing 
spectacle in the midst of summer joys, and remind the thought- 
ful Japanese that beauty is but evanescent, and life but a 
passing dream* 



CHAPTER IV 

CONCERNING JAPANESE WOMEN 

One of the most charming features about travel in Japan is 
that one cannot pass a day without being more or less under 
the gentle influence of woman^ 

In China or India one may travel for months and never 
have occasion to address anyone but a man^ as the women do 
not enter into the foreigner's life at alL But in Japan it is 
different — and how much pleasanter! For woman is a great 
power in Japan^ and her sphere is a large one* The home is 
woman's province; so is the inn* Little soft-voiced women 
fill your every wish and make you feel how indispensable they 
are to very existence from the time you enter a hostel in Japan 
to the time you leave it* Life at a Japanese inn has, to bona 
fide travellers who seek really to know the people of the land, 
a charm that at first they cannot define* Perhaps they do 
not try to* They know they find it fascinating, but they do 
not ask themselves why* Certainly it is not the degree of 
comfort that pleases, nor is the unsatisfying food particularly 
to their taste* Yet they find they prefer to live at native inns 
instead of ^* foreign-style'' hotels* Why^* If you ask yourself 
the question, the answer is easy* It is because you feel the 
gentle influence of woman the moment you enter a Japanese 
house* That is the charm* With all its beauty, Japan would 
not be the fascinating holiday-land it is were it not for the 
amiable little women who minister to your comfort and every 
need; whose faces are wreathed in perpetual smiles, and 
who cheerfully fly to do your bidding at any hour of the day 
or night,the moment you clap your hands to summon assistance* 

Whatever woman's position may have been in the past, 

27 



28 IN LOTUS-LAND 

and whatever it may even be to-day^ outside the inn — I cannot 
say home^ because I have had little experience of Japanese 
home-life^ though I suspect it does not differ very much in 
this respect from life at an inn — there can be no two opinions 
about the part woman plays inside the household* She is an 
autocrat^ and a clever one^ for she rules even where she does 
not really pretend to rule; but she does it so tactfully that^ 
whilst the husband holds the reins^ he simply follows wherever 
she chooses to lead. 

But woman is not only pre-eminent in the house; she is 
fast becoming a very important factor in the whole social and 
industrial system of the country^ and whatever may have been 
the relative status of man and woman in Japan in days gone 
by^ there is little doubt that another generation or two will 
see the sexes as much on an equal footing as they are in almost 
any other country, for women are proving themselves fully 
as competent as men in many occupations* One now sees 
female assistants in all the large Tokyo shops; female clerks 
in post-offices; female operators at telephone exchanges; 
female ticket-sellers at the railway stations; and, in a score 
of other occupations, women doing work formerly done 
only by men* 

The Japanese girl is no longer content to remain a pretty 
chattel of the home* Her emancipation is progressing by leaps 
and bounds, and she now expects, and is allowed, such freedom 
as must rudely shock her grandmother when the old lady 
thinks of the days when she was in her teens* Healthy athletic 
exercises at school are fast changing the entire physique of 
the modern Japanese girl, and she is already bigger, and 
heavier, and longer-limbed than her mother* She demands 
fresh air and country rambles, and the habit of going un- 
attended to school has bred in her an independence that 
enables her to go out alone — ^which she does without fear 
of molestation* 

From the standpoint of the older people this change is 
not altogether for the good, for she is losing some of that 
feminine charm which caused Lafcadio Hearn to describe her 



CONCERNING JAPANESE WOMEN 29 

as **the sweetest type of woman the world has ever known/' 
The submissiveness^ which was one of the Japanese girVs 
principal attractions, is less noticeable in the present generation 
than the last — so I am told by Japanese friends, who look 
upon American notions of school training with pious horror* 
Modern progressive ideas, and the higher education, are 
encroaching more and more into the family circle, and under- 
mining the Confucian foundations on which it has rested for 
centuries* The Japanese girl of to-morrow will perhaps con- 
sider herself as good as her brother, and may even not 
hesitate to match her opinions against his* But the time is 
far distant when Japanese women will clamour for votes, 
though it has come, and passed, full circle, when they were 
able to demonstrate to all the world that their services 
were almost as vital to the country in time of war as were 
those of the men* 

Even though the Japanese girl grow less passive under 
the modern system of education, she is never likely to lose 
her place among the daintiest and most refined of her sex, 
for the inuring processes that have gained it for her will never 
be omitted from her training, no matter what new features 
are introduced* 

The position which the Japanese wife occupies in the 
respect and affections of her husband is even to-day but little 
understood by foreigners, for so much misinformation has 
been disseminated about her that a wholly wrong impression 
is generally held of one who is among the most amiable of 
man's helpmates in the world* The Japanese home is perhaps 
the most difficult of any to gain intimate access to, yet almost 
every globe-trotter who dashes through Japan is a self-con- 
stituted authority on the Japanese woman, and most make the 
unpardonable mistake of classing the modest, retiring lady of 
the land — whom probably they never even see — ^with tea- 
house girls and the popular favourites of the capital and the 
Treaty Ports* 

Even the humbler members of the Japanese feminine 
world — such as waitresses and hotel servants — have been too 



30 IN LOTUS-LAND 

often maligned^ and represented to be what they never at 
any time were^ as their artless, unaffected ways are often 
misunderstood by those who come from lands where customs 
are so different, and who cannot speak the language* '*Too 
many foreigners, we ieaf/* says Professor Chamberlain, **give 
not only trouble and offence, but just cause for indignation 
by their disrespect of propriety, especially in their behaviour 
towards Japanese women, whose engaging manners and naive 
ways they misinterpret* ♦ ♦ ♦ The waitresses at any respectable 
Japanese inn deserve the same respectful treatment as is 
accorded to girls in a similar position at home/* 

No class of Japanese womanhood is more misunderstood 
by foreigners than the geisha* Frail she may be, but the geisha 
has no counterpart in Europe: she is a purely Japanese cre- 
ation* The word geisha when mentioned to people unversed 
in matters Japanese often causes side glances and suggestive 
smiles* This is because she is too often, and quite wrong- 
fully, confounded by globe-trotters with the inmates of the 
Yoshiwara* 

When European ladies wear Japanese clothes, or array 
themselves as ^'Japanese geisha,*' they often make the most 
glaring errors — wear elaborately embroidered kimonos, stick 
many long pins in their hair, tie their sashes in front, and, in 
short, make themselves resemble neither geisha nor ladies* 
Japanese ladies do not wear embroidered kimonos; they never 
wear a halo of long pins in their hair, nor do they tie their 
sashes in front* Neither do geisha* These things are the 
badges of the courtesan* 

The geisha is an entertainer* She is trained from childhood 
in the arts of music, dancing, singing, story-telling, conver- 
sation, and repartee* No Japanese dinner in native style is 
ever given without attendant geisha* There is usually one 
geisha at least to every guest* It is their function to see that 
the guests are never for a moment dull; to ply the sake bottles 
and watch the cups, lest at prescribed moments they should 
be aught but full; and at appropriate intervals during the 
meal to enliven the diners with music and dancing* Compared 



CONCERNING JAPANESE WOMEN 31 

with a high-class native ^* dinner ^^ in Japan the orthodox 
European one must^ to a Japanese^ be the most boresome 
experience imaginable* 

The geisha^ too^ is in great request for boating and picnic 
parties^ and no company of merry-makers intent on a spree 
— ^such as the annual ** opening'^ of the Sumida River at Tokyo, 
or a visit to the Gifu cormorant-fishing — ^would dream of 
going without the companionship of geisha* Whenever two 
or three jovial spirits are gathered together for an evening^s 
fun at some tea-house, geisha are hired to furnish the music 
and to liven the occasion with their wit and songs* 

Apart from the unique social place she fills, the geisha is 
simply a woman — neither stronger nor weaker than others of 
her sex the world over, exposed to the same temptations — 
and many have made brilliant marriages* 

An author who has devoted a volume to the story of a 
liaison he formed with a Nagasaki fille de joie has done much 
to harm the Japanese woman in the eyes of the world* It is 
the exception to meet a tourist, Japan bound, who has read 
the book, who does not believe every Japanese girl to be a 
potential ** Madame Chrysantheme*"" A more recent writer 
has done still more wrong to the good name of the Japanese 
woman by weaving a romance round the most sordid and 
degrading aspects of life in Japan — aspects which the Japanese 
are endeavouring to eradicate; aspects which no visitor to the 
country will ever see unless he search them out* There are 
muddy under-currents in the life of every country, and each 
traveller sees what he looks for* In Western lands vice walks 
undisguised; but not so in Japan! In Japan it must be sought 
for* Other writers have equally, though less seriously, mis- 
represented the Japanese woman in the "'pidgin English^' they 
have made her speak* She may speak broken English, but 
*' pidgin English*' never. She does not say 'Welly'' for ''very"; 
and for "like" she does not say "likee" but "rike*" The 
Chinese replace "r" with "1" when speaking English, but not 
so the Japanese, for their syllabary has no sound "1," whereas 
r" is one of the commonest sounds in the language* 



** ^ft 



32 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Therefore they turn all our '^Ts'' into '*r's/^ until they have 
learnt to pronounce the unfamiliar sound* 

Moreover^ the Japanese girl does not suffix her English 
verbs with **ee/^ She does not say ^'talkee/' **walkee/^ 
"^thinkee/" ^^speakee/* .etc* She never talks this ^* pidgin '^ 
jargon of the Chinese ports^ but such English as she knows 
she speaks^ perhaps brokenly^ but very prettily* English is 
now compulsory in every school, and taught correctly; when, 
therefore, one reads this gibberish, as samples of a Japanese 
girl's conversation, one knows the writer has never seen Japan* 

To those who really wish to know this dainty creature, 
the Japanese lady; who would learn of the whole order of her 
life, from the time she wears her swaddling clothes to the day 
she is wrapped in her shroud; who would see the pretty 
Japanese child grow into happy girlhood, and the happy girl 
gradually develop into budding womanhood; who would 
see this sweet woman grow sweeter still as she becomes a 
mother; who would see this gentle mother rear her family, 
and each day be more honoured and respected until she attains 
the height of her fondest ambition and power as a grand- 
mother; to those who would, in fact, follow the Japanese 
woman from the cradle to the grave, I would say read Miss 
A* M* Bacon's book, Japanese Girls and Women, for in the 
pages of that delightful volume you will find so charming an 
account of family life in the Land of the Rising Sun that, when 
you have read it, you will know the Japanese lady far more 
intimately than you would be ever likely to by travelling 
in the land* 

Miss Bacon's opportunity was unique, and fortunately 
she was more than competent to embrace it to the full* Her 
book is a classic; for a similar chance can never come to any 
one again* Japan is rapidly changing, and the Japanese girl 
of to-morrow will be quite a different creature from the 
Japanese girl Miss Bacon wrote of yesterday* 

The traveller to far Japan must not expect to find home 
life there an open book* A Japanese visiting Europe, furnished 
with good letters of introduction, would be welcomed with 




A MAID OF FAIR JAPAN 



CONCERNING JAPANESE WOMEN 33 

open-hearted hospitality into the family circle of his newly- 
found acquaintance; and every member of the household 
would do his or her best to contribute to the enjoyment of the 
guest* After a round of such visits the traveller from the East 
would be well qualified^ on his return home^ to write about 
the home life of the English lady* 

But how different is the case of the European bearing 
letters to the Japanese! The very most he can expect is to be 
invited to some club; perhaps a Japanese dinner^ with its 
accompaniment of geisha-dancings may be arranged in his 
honour at the Maple Club; or in some exceptional cases he 
may be invited to see the house and gardens of his host* In 
still more exceptional instances he may be presented to the wife 
and daughters; but he will never be invited to stay at his host's 
house^ and^ for the time beings become, as it were, a member 
of the family* How, then, can the passing globe-trotter ever 
hope to see the Japanese lady in her true perspective, when 
foreign residents, who have passed their lives in Japan, admit 
that even they have only formed their estimate by a series of 
fortunate glimpses, few and far between $* 

It is the exception to meet a foreign resident who seems 
to have any desire to cultivate an intimate knowledge either 
of the country or the people* I have met many who have 
lived years in the land who could not express their simplest 
wants in Japanese* On the other hand the most interesting 
foreign residents I met were those who loved the land and 
liked the people; who talked the language and understood 
the meaning of all they saw* 

Owing to the nature of the mission that took me on one 
of my journeys to Japan — as a correspondent during the war 
with Russia — I had the honour of meeting several Japanese 
ladies of the highest social rank in their own homes, and the 
good fortune to see certain phases of the character of the 
women of Japan, which the Western world hitherto had not 
known they possessed* For what I then saw I shall honour 
the Japanese woman always, for she stood revealed to me in 
all those qualities that men mostly esteem in the opposite 



34 IN LOTUS-LAND 

sex* She was sagacious^ strongs and self-reliant^ yet gentle^ 
compassionate^ and sweet — a ministering angel of forgiveness, 
tenderness, and mercy* 

I cannot, in the limits of this essay, give more than a few 
vignettes of this most feminine of women; but I hope to show 
that she is something more than a ^'pretty butterfly,^^ ^ as 
she is generally thought to be by those who do not know her* 
When duty calls, there is no woman in the world who obeys 
more readily and capably; and the best of Japanese manhood 
respects her as truly as any other woman in the world is re- 
spected, even though he loves her less demonstratively* Close 
observation, during three years of travel in this land, has 
clearly shown me, too, that the women of the Japanese peasant 
and poorer classes are accorded such courtesy from the opposite 
sex as is quite undreamt of by women of the corresponding 
classes in Europe* 

Would that one could speak as warmly of all Japanese men 
as of their mothers, wives, and daughters ! My own experience, 
however, but corroborates that of my friend Chamberlain* 
Writing of Japanese women, he says: '*How many times 
have we not heard European ladies go into ecstasies over them, 
and marvel how they could ever be of the same race as the men ! 
And closer acquaintance does but confirm such views*^' 

I witnessed many sad scenes in Japan, during the war with 
Russia* Many a time I saw a soldier bidding his last good-byes 
to wife and mother before embarking for the war; but I 
seldom saw any tears* Often there were even smiles, for in 
Japan the smile is a mask which hides the agony of the heart* 
The women exhibited a front so firm and unquailing as it 
seemed well-nigh impossible such gentle little creatures could 
show* And there were no caresses at parting, but many and 
many a bow, and sweet, oft-repeated ** Sayonara*'" And as, the 

^ There is nothing the Japanese girl, or woman, resents more than to be 
compared to a butterfly* The cho-cho does not appear to Japanese as we see 
it — a beautiful summer insect — but as a fickle, restless creature that is ever 
flitting about from flower to flower, never content to stay anywhere long. 
The butterfly is, therefore, an emblem of inconstancy, and a Japanese girl 
is indignant at being compared to one. 



CONCERNING JAPANESE WOMEN 35 

farewell over^ the little wife and mother turned back to her 
husbandless home^ if nobody cared to know of the fear she 
nursed in her bosom^ certainly nobody would ever divine it 
from any betrayal in her features; for her face^ like that of 
her husband^ who smilingly went forth^ perhaps to die^ was a 
mask: a disguise born of blood trained for centuries in the 
mastery of the feelings* 

I saw tears sometimes^ however^ for not every Japanese 
woman is a Spartan^ and the poorer people cannot always 
restrain their feelings as do those of better blood; but I did 
not often see such human emotion shown* 

The self-control of the Japanese women^ when troops 
were leaving for the Fronts was misunderstood by many 
foreigners* They were called cold^ and lacking in sympathy, 
and indifferent; but this was far, far from the truth, for they 
are full of such feminine instincts as sympathy and fellow- 
feeling* On such occasions as a husband going to the war it 
is almost a point of honour to control oneself; but I have 
often seen an act of kindness bring tears to Japanese eyes, 
and I have seen a whole theatre-full of people — women and 
children, and men too — sniffling and sobbing audibly as a 
touching tragedy was being played* The Japanese are an 
exceedingly emotional people* 

The Japanese smile, too, which is so often belied by the 
heart, takes long to understand; but when one knows what 
it often means, one's heart is sometimes wrung to see it* 

A Japanese friend with whom I travelled for many weeks 
frequently spoke to me of his sister, to whom he was deeply 
attached* He showed me her picture — she was a pretty girl, 
just turned eighteen — and he told me much of the happy days 
he and she had spent together* Her parents had taken her to 
D2;ushi, a seaside resort for consumptives, for the dread scourge 
of Japan had settled on this young life* One day when we arrived 
in Kyoto, after a long tour in the country, a letter was placed 
in his hands as we entered our hotel* He tore it open and read 
it, and then turning to me, remarked, with a broad smile 
that I shall never forget, '*Ha, ha, my sister is dead already!'' 



36 IN LOTUS-LAND 

As his features assumed the ghastly mask^ and he uttered 
the cold-blooded words^ a chill of repulsion swept over me; 
but it quickly changed to sympathy^ for^ though there was 
not a quiver of an eyelash^ I knew that the smile was a lie^ 
and that his heart was filled with sorrow at the unexpected 
blow* He went at once to his room^ and I saw him no more 
that day^ for I respected his evident desire to be alone ; but 
friendship warmed towards him^ as I knew that the tears he 
refused to show in public were shed for many bitter hours 
in the solitude of his chamber* 

Desiring to observe the working of the Japanese Red Cross 
organisation during the war with Russia^ I secured permission 
from the War Department to visit the Reserve Hospitals 
at Hiroshima* 

Hiroshima^ capital of the province of Aki^ a beautifully- 
situated town near the mouth of the Ota River, which flows 
into the Inland Sea, ranks as the seventh city of the Japanese 
Empire* 

From the standpoint of its relation to the war with Russia, 
Hiroshima stood in importance second only to Tokyo; it was 
practically the rear of the Army as far as the wounded were 
concerned, for they were sent back there from the Front in 
a week, with their first-aid bandages on* 

When I arrived at this place I began to realise something 
of the real horrors of war, and the true nature of the terrible 
task on which Japan was engaged* In the time that I spent 
in the hospitals I learnt, too, more than I could otherwise 
have learnt in a lifetime about Japanese women; for I saw 
there what a noble part they played in the greatest crisis in 
the history of the nation* 

For nearly three weeks I spent the greater part of each day 
in the various divisions of the hospital, where over twenty 
thousand wounded soldiers were being cared for; and having, 
later, spent a week in the Russian prisoners^ hospitals at 
Matsuyama, I can truly say that, to friend and foe alike, the 
Japanese nurses were angels of mercy* Their tender solicitude; 
their quiet ways as they moved quickly, yet like phantoms. 




GEISHA 



CONCERNING JAPANESE WOMEN 37 

about the wards; their readiness and willingness to obey 
instantly the calls of their charges; their untiring energy and 
devotion; their patience and earnestness; their courtesy to 
their patients^ and their gentleness in washing and bandaging 
them — all showed that these Japanese ladies^ who had responded 
so nobly and whole-heartedly to the call of duty and humanity, 
were as instinct with all the finest virtues of their sex as any 
women in the worlds 

I saw many pathetic scenes during those weeks at Hiro- 
shima; but I think the incident that touched me deepest 
was when the pupils of a primary school for little Japanese 
girls visited the principal wards* There were perhaps fifty 
in all, in the care of their lady teachers, and as they tripped 
silently, in their soft white socks, into the ward where I 
was sitting by the bed of one of my wounded friends, they 
all courteously bowed several times to the patients on one 
side, then several times to the patients on the other* Every 
soldier who could returned the courtesy, and those who could 
neither sit nor stand inclined their heads or raised their hands 
to the salute* 

The principal lady teacher, in sweet, gentle tones, then 
quietly addressed the men, telling them how great was the 
honour that she and her pupils felt to have the privilege of 
^nsiting so many gallant soldiers who had helped to gain a 
glorious victory for Japan* Here the fifty little heads all bowed 
in mute approval of their teacher's words; and she went on 
to say that she hoped every soldier would soon be well, and 
perhaps able to fight again, but that those who had been too 
severely wounded to return to the Front would always be 
honoured for the part that they had played in the war* The 
childish heads were ducked, with one accord, again* 

Turning to the little girls, who now all stood meekly, 
with downcast eyes, the teacher then addressed her charges, 
reciting briefly the story of the great battle in which these 
brave fellows had fought, and how it was won, and how bravely 
they had done their duty* She continued that it would be 
a proud moment for their parents when these, their sons, 



38 IN LOTUS-LAND 

returned to their homes^ bearing the honourable scars of war* 
No woman could have a higher ambition than to be the mother 
of sons to fight for Japan^ and she hoped that when these little 
girls grew up^ and had sons of their own^ they would teach 
them to be as brave and loyal subjects of the Emperor as the 
soldiers now lying maimed before them* The tiny lassies here 
all bowed again in silent resolution^ and then^ with several 
parting bows to right and left^ they proceeded to another ward* 

To me the incident was a stirring object-lesson of how 
Japan loses no opportunities of educating her children* Those 
little girls would remember all their lives what they saw that 
day; and the words of their school-mistress, I have no doubt, 
sank deep into each of those childish souls* As years pass by, 
and those little girls become mothers, the exhortation of that 
soft-voiced teacher, made under such impressive circum- 
stances, will sound again in their ears; and sons of Japan, 
as yet unborn, will grow up to be better and braver men because 
of words their mothers listened to when they were little more 
than babies themselves* 

At Matsuyama the wounded Russians were loud in the 
praises of their gentle Japanese nurses* The looks with which 
the fallen followed every movement of their little guardians 
told a simple tale, and more than one gallant fellow left his 
bed pierced by an arrow that wounded him deeper than 
the bullet which had laid him low* 

Never in history did foeman have a kinder and more 
generous adversary than did Russia in that struggle, and never 
did women of any land play a nobler and more tender part 
than did the women of Japan* 

It must not be thought that because Hiroshima was a 
hospital town it was necessarily a doleful place* Like most 
garrison towns, it was gay* Indeed it was the gayest of 
the gay* My hotel bordered on the river— one of the five 
streams that form the delta of the Ota-gawa* On either side 
of it were other hotels, restaurants, and tea-houses; and on 
the opposite bank of the river similar conditions obtained* 
These places were all crowded, according to their class, with 



CONCERNING JAPANESE WOMEN 39 

military officers or soldiers^ billeted there for a day or two 
prior to their departure for the Fronts 

As soon as night settled on the waters^ the sound of the 
samisen rang out from every house beside the moonlit river^ 
As surely^ too^ as the light on the paper shoji changed from 
that of day without to that of lamps within^ the plaintive 
cadence of the geisha's song wailed out on the evening air* 

Night after night I listened to her songs of revelry^ of 
love^ and of despair* There was something weirdly pathetic 
about her often sorrowful lay — for the geisha is at her 
best when singing of some stirring incident that lives for 
ever in history* 

One nighty as a singularly beautiful voice broke on the night 
air, the samisens and other sounds were silenced, one by one, 
till naught but that one woman's voice could be heard* Every 
window within earshot was thrown open, and every reveller 
on each side of the river crowded to the balconies to listen, 
for the singer was one of the most famous in Japan, and the 
song she sang was the Ballad of Dan-no-ura*^ 

Inspired by the impressive silence, impelled by her art, 
she sang with magic power the terrible story* In accents 
wondrously moving she told of Tokiwa's pleading for her 
mother and her children, and in piteous tones of the dishonour 
of the famous beauty* Then in tragic crescendo she sang of 
Yoritomo's lust of vengeance for his mother's ruin; and in a 
fren2;y of passion of the great Minamoto leader's resolve to 
stamp the Taira clan from off the earth* She sang of how the 
tide of battle waged, first this way, then that, in the great 
historic conflict, till it ended in the extermination of the rival 
clan — even to the slaughter of women and children — and over 
the sadness of the final lines of suffering and death her voice 
grew infinitely tender, and culminated in an outburst of 
passionate sobs* I have never heard anything more stirring 
than that geisha's wonderful song* 

On the balcony, listening beside me, there were several 
Japanese officers, and tears were coursing down their cheeks, 

^ See page 57. 



40 IN LOTUS-LAND 

for even Japanese soldiers can easily be moved to emotion 
by histrionic art^ and the story is the most famous and bloody 
in Japanese annals — one that will live in the hearts of the people 
when the war with Russia is forgotten^ 

As the voice of the singer ceased^ only her sobs for 
some moments broke the silence; then from every balcony 
and window on both sides of the river there burst forth a 
storm of applause and loud shouts of approbation* 

At Hiroshima it was always this dainty creature^ the geisha, 
who made merry the last evenings of the officers ere they went 
forth to the war; and she was always the last to cheer them 
on their way, pledging them, in tiny sips of sake, health, 
victory, and a safe return* Truly it is almost as hard to imagine 
how Japan could survive without the geisha as without the 
army itself* 

That the sterling qualities of the Japanese women were 
appreciated by the officers of the Army I had daily evidence 
during the time that I was attached to the First Division in 
Manchuria* One of the first questions asked me by every 
officer whose acquaintance I made was, '*What do you think 
of the Japanese women $''^ and the following incidents serve 
to show something of the regard in which they were held 
by the leaders* 

On one occasion, at Mukden, when I went to pay my 
respects to the Commander-in-Chief, Marquis Oyama* and 
to General Baron Kodama, I met the latter outside his head- 
quarters — a Mandarin's yamen*^ Kodama was a handsome 
man, rather American than Japanese in appearance, with a 
deeply-bron2;ed face and dark-brown eyes which sparkled with 
the love of fun* He was the most celebrated wit in Japan, and 
even during the heat of battle his jokes, I was told, never ceased* 
I had previously met him at Tokyo — the day before the de- 
parture of the General Staff for the Front* I was in his drawing- 
room, when General Baron Terauchi, the Minister of War, 
called, with several other exalted officers* Instead of the 
conversation being of a serious turn (seeing that such moment- 
^ The mansion of a Chinese official* 



CONCERNING JAPANESE WOMEN 41 

ous events were portending)^ it was, on the contrary, of the 
most jovial nature, and the impression I shall always have of 
General Kddama on that occasion was seeing him leaning 
back in his chair, convulsed with laughter at the fit of the 
War Minister's riding-breeches* 

When I met him in Mukden he at once invited me to enter 
his house, and holding aside a bamboo portiere that hung 
in the doorway, and pointing ahead, said, ^' There! what do 
you think of that^*'' in Japanese* I looked, and saw a 
large kakemono ^ of a Japanese girl, painted in modern 
style and nearly life-si2;e* I congratulated him on being 
such a connoisseur of feminine charms, whereupon he 
laughed merrily, saying, ^*You see Tm not very lonely here 
with such a lovely girl to look at* Beppin-San des, ne^** 
('* Isn't she a beauty $"') Then he laughed again more merrily 
than ever* 

I found his apartments luxuriously furnished in Chinese 
style* What, however, most attracted my attention was a tall, 
slender Chinese table of blackwood — perhaps ten inches square 
and three feet high — on which stood the most beautiful doll 
I have ever seen* The figure was about twelve inches tall, and 
marvellously life-like* It was dressed in a mauve silk kimono, 
with a rich gold-brocade obi; and every detail of a Japanese 
lady's toilet was carefully worked out, even to a tiny jewelled 
obi-domi ^ and the pin in her hair* It was, in fact, a perfect 
miniature of a Japanese lady, and a work of high art* ^'She 
is my mascot," said this great General, who was known as 
the '* Brain of the Japanese Army*" ''She is my mascot, and 
goes with me wherever I go* She has brought me much good 
luck*" Such was General Kodama's tribute to the women 
of his land* 

A few days after this incident I was sitting next to General 
Kuroki — Commander of the First Division — at a General 
Staff dinner at the Front* General Kurdki is one of the samurai 

^ Picture that rolls up like a scroll. 

2 A small clasp, attached to a narrow silken band, that holds the obi, or 
sash, tightly in place. 



42 IN LOTUS-LAND 

of the old days — the knights of feudal Japan — and the following 
episode will show something of the mould in which his gallant 
soul is cast* 

He spoke no English^ but conversation was made through 
the medium of that lightning interpreter^ Captain Okada^ who 
translated each sentence the moment it was spoken* 

Having a fair working smattering of Japanese^ I mustered 
up courage^ after a glass or two of wine^ to address the General 
in his native tongue* I was equal to the following simple 
sentence^ and voiced it: '^Anata sama wa Eikoku no kotoba 
hanashimasen ka^^^ which means^ ^*Does not your honourable 
self speak English $"^ It was simply a plain^ unpolished speech^ 
but the effect on General Kuroki was electrical* Turning to 
me with sparkling eyes and raised eyebrows^ he replied^ 
** Eikoku no kotoba hanashimasen; anata wa Nihon no kotoba 
yoku wakarimas^ so ja arimasen ka^* ** {'* 1 do not speak English; 
you understand Japanese well; is it not so$"') 

I replied that I only knew very little indeed^ and then asked 
General Kur5ki what part of the country he came from* 
He replied^ ^^Satsuma*'' 

I told him I had read that Satsuma had always been a 
famous province for producing fighting men^ and cited the 
names of several* 

'^You have studied Japanese history^ then^*'" he asked* 

^^Yes^ a little^ and I have found it exceedingly interesting^ 
and not unlike our own* Your feudal days are fifty years old^ 
whereas ours are five hundred ; that is the principal difference/' 
I replied* 

From this we got on to various phases of Japanese history^ 
and I mentioned the bombardment of the Kagoshima forts 
by the British under Admiral Kuper^ in 1862/ Captain Okada 
had stepped in as interpreter^ never hesitating for a word^ as 
the conversation had got beyond my linguistic powers after 
the few sentences which had served to start it* 

The old General's face became a study^ and his eyes a 
bla2;e of lights as he replied^ ''Yes^ I was there^ I was there 

^ See page j. 



CONCERNING JAPANESE WOMEN 43 

at the time! I was a boy of eighteen^ and helped to serve one 
of our guns ! '^ 

So excited did he become as he began to tell me of this 
affair, and warmed up to it, that he made a plan on the table 
— ^using glasses and plates, and anything that was handy, to 
mark the positions of the various forts — ^whilst the staff officers 
crowded round to see* A large ornamental vase on the table 
was the island, Sakura-jima, and a number of wine-glasses 
were used to show the position of Admiral Kuper's ships* 

He told me, what I had already read, that a fierce hurricane 
raged throughout the day, and that some of the ships had to 
cut their cables and put to sea; that the captain and sixty 
members of the crew were slain on the flagship, and that 
although the squadron succeeded in setting fire to the town 
and dismantling the forts, they departed much the worse 
from the effects of the Japanese guns and the ravages of 
the storm* 

After a long pause the old General continued: '* Those 
were dark days for Japan — ^when all the land was rent with 
strife; when we were yet in ignorance of what would be the 
outcome of it all; when we seemed beset with enemies, and 
England was the most terrible of all* How different it all is 
now! How different it all is now! England is our warmest 
friend, and has taught us most of what has brought us success* 
How could we ever foresee at that time that the trials through 
which we were passing were but the fire heating the steel 
which the events of later years have tempered $"^ 

It was one of the most interesting hours of my life when 
that old Satsuma samurai stepped out from the pages of 
Japanese feudal history, and, with eyes sparkling, and hands 
illustrating on the table, told me of that day which marks one 
of the deepest of England's injustices, and the darkest stain 
on her early dealings with Japan* The staff officers were as 
interested as I in the General's story, and when he had 
finished, the impressive silence showed how deeply all 
were stirred* 

Immediately afterwards we were engaged in a discussion 



44 IN LOTUS-LAND 

on the praiseworthy qualities of the Japanese soldier — his 
indifference to hardship, his endurance and bravery, and 
what he had accomplished* 

General Kuroki after a time spoke thus: '*When we speak 
of the achievements of the Japanese soldier, we must not 
forget that it is not the men of Japan who are solely responsible 
for these deeds* If our men had not been trained by their 
mothers in the ethics of Bushido — that everything must be 
sacrificed on the altar of duty and honour — they could not 
have done what they have done* The Japanese women are 
very gentle and very quiet and unassuming — ^we hope they 
may never change — but they are very brave, and the courage 
of our soldiers is largely due to the training they received, as 
little children, from their mothers* The women of a land 
play a great part in its history, and no nation can ever become 
really great unless its women are before all things courageous, 
yet gentle and modest* Japan owes as much to her women 
as to her soldiers*** 

When General Fujii, the Chief of Staff, proudly added to 
the words of General Kuroki, '*Let us drink to the Japanese 
women, for I think they are the best in all the world,** I 
remembered again the words of the immortal Lafcadio Hearn, 
and I knew that no one who had seen what the women of 
Japan really were, could affirm that any women were truer 
to their duty in any land on earth* 





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BY THE KARAKAMI 



CHAPTER V 

THE HOUSE AND THE CHILDREN 

About the tatami and hibachi of a Japanese household an entire 
volume might be written^ for on and around these important 
essentials of the home revolves the whole domestic life of the 
nation* The tatami are the mats which cover the floors of 
Japanese houses^ and the hibachi is a brazier for burning 
charcoal in — the fireplace of Japan* 

The Japanese spends the greater part of his life on tatami* 
He is born on them^ walks on them^ sits on them^ eats on them^ 
sleeps on them^ and dies on them* They are at once the floor^ 
the table, the chairs, and the bedstead of Japan, and as such 
are deserving of more than passing notice, for they reflect 
much of the character of the people with whose life they come 
into such close daily contact* 

Tatami are of many qualities, but of only one si2;e— six 
feet by three* The area of a room is therefore always estimated 
by the number of mats required to cover the floor: thus an 
apartment measuring fifteen feet by twelve will hold ten mats, 
and is called a ^* ten-mat room*'* Any Japanese hearing it 
described thus, knows its si2;e, because, whatever be the arrange- 
ment of the mats, the floor will be covered by ten of them* 
Rooms are sometimes so small as to have but three mats, or 
even two, whilst a little chamber of four mats is quite common* 
Tatami are two inches thick, made of rice-straw, tightly pressed 
and sewn, with rectangular corners and edges, and covered 
with closely-woven white matting made from rushes* The 
six-feet sides are bound with broad tape — usually black, but 
sometimes white — which laps over on to the surface, forming 
a border one inch wide* Coloured matting, such as is exported 
to America and Europe, is not used in Japan* 

The floors of any well-kept Japanese household present 

45 



46 IN LOTUS-LAND 

a scrupulously neat and clean appearance^ and thus they are 
a faithful mirror of the people who live on them* They are 
also yielding and noiseless^ especially as Japanese people never 
wear boots in their houses* Boots are cast off at the threshold 
on entering the house^ and slippers are left on the polished 
wooden floor of the passage outside the room* You can always 
tell by the number of pairs of boots^ or sandals^ on a doorstep 
how many visitors are at a house^ or by the slippers outside 
a room how many people are within it* 

In the best households the mats are re-covered twice a 
year^ so that they are always fresh and white^ with even a tinge 
of green in them; or the covering may be turned^ as both 
sides are alike^ after six months' use^ and renewed completely 
at the end of the year* The matting becomes yellow with age^ 
and in poor households it is used until worn out* No house- 
hold^ however^ is so poor that it cannot afford tatami of some 
sort, though the tape binding is sometimes dispensed with* 
The arrangement of the m.ats is altered occasionally, and the 
appearance of a room can be completely changed by a fresh 
grouping of the straight black lines* 

A ten-mat room is a very convenient and even large-sized 
apartment in middle-class houses; but in the houses of the 
wealthy and the nobility rooms double this si2;e are quite 
common, whilst rooms for entertaining a number of guests 
may have as many as fifty mats or more* At a Japanese inn 
at which I stayed in Gifu I was shown to an immense apart- 
ment, the floor of which took no less than seventy-eight mats 
to cover it, but my selection fell upon a chamber of more 
modest dimensions* 

If an apartment be found too small for the use for which 
it is required, the sliding doors (fusuma, or karakami), dividing 
it from the next apartment, can be quickly removed, and thus 
two rooms are thrown into one* If the house be a large one, 
a number of rooms can be opened up en suite in this manner, 
should a large hall be required for entertaining purposes* The 
karakami, which are often adorned with paintings of land- 
scapes or figures, do not reach the ceiling of the room* They 



THE HOUSE AND THE CHILDREN 47 

are six feet high, and above them there are usually a few panels 
of open wood-carvings which serve as a ventilator^ These 
are called ramma* The sides of the room facing the passage- 
way and open air are filled with sliding screens^ covered with 
rice paper* These are the shoji^ and they admit a soft^ diffused 
light into the room* Wooden shutters^ called amado^ protect 
the shoji at night-time or in wet weather* 

The principal part of a Japanese room is the tokonoma^ a 
raised recess at one side^ usually made out of beautifully 
grained woods* There the single kakemono (picture which 
rolls up like a scroll) ^ which the room contains^ is display ed^ 
with invariably some object of art beneath it^ such as a bron2;e 
or porcelain flower-vase^ a piece of carvings a dwarf tree 
in a handsome pot^ or a curious stone in a dish* 

The furnishings of a Japanese room are of the simplest* 
They consist of a hibachi^ and a cushion or two to sit on* There 
are no tables^ or chairs^ or any of those aids to comfort that 
help to make life bearable elsewhere* The tatami do duty 
for all these things* Conspicuous^ therefore^ in all this emptiness 
is the hibachi^ and there is much of interest about it* 

Hibachi are of many kinds* Sometimes it is a curious 
stump; or gnarled excrescence of a tree; or a piece of wood 
of beautiful grain; or it may be of stone, or earthenware, or 
porcelain* More frequently it is of brass or bronze, often 
exquisitely carved* Its shape varies almost as much as its 
composition* It may be round, or square, or oblong; or it 
may be polygonal in design* Sometimes the hibachi is built 
into a small chest, a foot high, in one end of which there is a 
set of drawers, the top of which serves for a table* This 
kind is, however, only seen in the general domestic living- 
room of a house or inn, and never in the guest-chambers or 
private rooms* 

The hibachi is filled to within a few inches of the brim with 
ash, which should be carefully heaped up into a truncated 
cone, the top of which is hollowed a little* Into this depression 
a few embers of glowing charcoal are placed* That, in a nut- 
shell, is the modus operandi of the hibachi; but about the 



48 IN LOTUS-LAND 

management of the charcoal and the ash^ and the etiquette of 
the hibachi in general^ much of interest may be said* 

For instance^ in the best households the ash may be covered 
with several inches of calcined oyster-shelly called kaki-bai^ 
which is a powder^ white as driven snow; no common fuel 
is burnt in it^ but cherry-wood charcoal is used — so cleverly 
charred that even the grain of the bark is intact* Each block 
is about two inches long^ and in diameter according to the 
size of the branch* It is sawed neatly and without any breaks* 
Two or three of these little blocks, heated to a glow in the 
kitchen fire, are carefully buried in the little crater, with the 
top of one block just showing* These will burn without atten- 
tion from dawn till dark* The better the ash is heaped up 
round the charcoal the longer will the latter burn, but if it 
be desired to increase the heat, with consequent rapidity of 
consumption of the charcoal, a depression must be formed 
in the lip of the crater to allow air to enter at the bottom of 
the fire, and thus form a draught* Not only must the ash be 
evenly graded into a cone, but there is a little serrated-edged 
brass scraper used for this purpose* This has the effect of 
leaving the slopes of the miniature volcano seamed with 
shallow furrows which converge towards the summit* 

The charcoal is managed with a pair of brass or bronze 
tongs, called hibashi, often as delicately wrought as the brazier 
itself* These are manipulated by the fingers of the right hand 
in the same manner as chop-sticks* At inns the common grade 
of charcoal usually supplied requires much attention, as the 
cheaper the charcoal the more rapidly it is consumed* More- 
over, at inns one never sees anything so expensive as oyster- 
shell ash, though I have occasionally seen burnt lime used 
as a substitute* 

It is a great breach of etiquette to throw cigarette ends or 
anything into the hibachi which will make it smoke* A small 
receptacle is always provided in the tabaco-bon^ for this 

^ A small wooden tray containing a tiny hibachi for lighting pipes and 
cigarettes at, and a small section of bamboo, called hai-fuki, for the reception 
of expectorations and stumps of cigarettes* 




WRITING A LETTER 



THE HOUSE AND THE CHILDREN 49 

purpose* At inns^ however^ no such niceties are observed^ 
and after a meeting of several friends the hibachi usually 
bristles with cigarette ends sticking in the ash* When the 
party has dispersed the neisan removes these^ and each mornings 
before renewing the charcoal^ she carefully sifts the ash through 
a wire sieve to separate all lumps left from the previous day, 
and any foreign substance that may be in it* 

At high-class Japanese inns the guest-room to which I 
have been shown has sometimes been of such immaculate 
cleanliness that I have stood on the threshold hesitating to 
enter it, for to tread such snowy mats with foreign socks instead 
of soft white tabi seemed almost like sacrilege* The karakami 
would be adorned with frescoes; the ceiling made of beauti- 
fully-figured, unpolished wood, and the whole apartment 
illumined by a flood of soft, mellow light that came through 
the paper shoji* 

There is no prettier or more characteristic picture of 
Japan than such a room, with gleaming black-bordered tatami 
and a fine old hibachi, at which a Japanese lady is sitting* 
Perhaps the fire has become disarranged or burnt low; so 
with finished grace she takes the hibashi between her taper 
fingers, deftly clips the pieces of charcoal and piles them into 
a tiny pyramid* Around this she draws the ash with the scraper 
until she has made a miniature Fuji-san* She does not do this 
from a superstitious belief that the nearer she approaches in 
her arrangement of the fire to the shape of the sacred mountain 
the better it will burn — as I remember once reading in some 
globe-trotter^s book — but because she knows the draught is 
better so; and still further to aid combustion she burrows 
a little hole below the lip of the tiny crater to admit the air* 
When my dainty lady has completed this to her satisfaction, 
she rests her pretty wrists against the edge of the bra2;ier, and 
holds her palms outstretched to warm them* 

The hibachi has several important appendages, chief of 
which is the kettle used to heat the water for tea* These kettles 
are of every conceivable shape and design, and of such beauty 
that the collector burns with desire to add each fresh specimen 



50 IN LOTUS-LAND 

he sees to his household gods* They are made of silver^ bronsje^ 
brass^ shakudo, shibuichi, and iron; but of them all the iron 
ones are the most fascinating* They are very thick and heavy^ 
often weighing four or five pounds — the philosophy of this 
being that thick metal cools slowly* Some are rounds some 
square^ some squat^ and some tall^ some are plain and some 
are carved — and in the carving every whim known to the 
Japanese artist is to be found* There are dragons^ flowers^ 
landscapes^ seascapes^ gods^ goddesses^ animals^ legends^ 
historical incidents^ and geometrical designs depicted on them* 
One never sees two alike* These kettles are called tetsu-bin^ 
meaning '* iron-bottle*"' 

The tetsu-bin is placed over the hibachi fire on a little 
contrivance consisting of a circular hoop of iron^ which lies 
buried in the ash* From this three little iron uprights springs 
when required^ to support the kettle* This device is called 
the san-toku^ or ^' three virtues'' — the virtues desired being 
that the fire may burn slow^ clear^ and hot* Sometimes a wire 
screen is placed on the san-toku, on which small cakes can 
be toasted* This is called the ami^ or net; and in the case of 
the special screen^ on which the glutinous rice-bread^ or 
mochi^ is baked, it is called mochi-ami* 

Around the hibachi circulates not only the domestic but 
also the social life of Japan* All warm themselves at it; tea 
is brewed by means of it; guests are entertained, chess played, 
and politics discussed beside it; secrets are told across it, and 
love is made over it* The hibachi, in fact, is accessory to so 
much of the thought and sentiment of this land that it is 
easily the most characteristic object of Japan* 

It is quite astonishing how quickly a cold room can be 
warmed by a hibachi well supplied with charcoal* The reason 
is that a charcoal fire gives out great heat, none of which 
is wasted — all the warmth generated by the fire being 
diffused into the room* There is no danger whatever of 
asphyxiation when the better grades of charcoal are burnt; 
only the cheapest kind gives off any poisonous fumes* The 
hibachi, however, is not left in the room at night, for any 



THE HOUSE AND THE CHILDREN 51 

carbonic-acid fumes that may be freed naturally sink | to 
the floor, and Japanese people sleep but a few inches above 
the mats* It is therefore removed and a small tabaco-bon 
substituted for it* The tabaco-bon is a sine qua non, for the 
tiny brazier that it contains holds a choice piece of cherry-wood 
charcoal which glows all night* Whenever a Japanese awakes, 
he or she must have a whiff or two from a pipe, as a solace, 
before sleep comes again; the tabaco-bon is therefore placed 
close by the bedside* 

Beds are made of thick padded quilts, called futons, spread 
on the floor* There may be one or several of them, and another 
is used as a covering* These futons are very warm — and very 
much esteemed as safe and comfortable retreats by Japanese 
fleas, which are the most robust and energetic of their kind* 

The makura, or pillow, used by men is a small round and 
rather hard bolster* This makura is very difficult for a foreigner 
to manage* Though I have spent many months at Japanese 
inns, I have never mastered the knack of keeping it from 
rolling off the futon and letting my head down with a bump* 
Invariably I had to put my large camera-case at the head of 
the bed to keep it in place — much to the amusement of every 
neisan who saw it there* 

Women sleep on quite a different pillow* They use a little 
lacquered stand with a soft pad on top which just fits the neck* 
The head does not come into contact with this device at all* 
It projects over it, so that the elaborate coiffure is not dis- 
arranged* In the base of this pillow-stand there is a tiny drawer 
for the reception of hair-pins and other such little feminine 
requisites* 

'*A delicate affair is beautiful hair'' in most lands, but in 
Japan it is a very serious matter* The dressing of a lady's 
tresses may take an hour or two, and can only be done by a 
professional kami-yui, or coiffeuse, who visits the house for 
this purpose* When, therefore, the hair has been arranged, 
it is carefully kept in order for several days, with merely a 
little prinking up each morning* If, however, the hair be worn 
in the pretty foreign-style modified pompadour, now affected 



52 IN LOTUS-LAND 

by many Japanese girls^ the services of the coiffeuse are^ of 
course^ not required* 

Enormous spiders^ called kumo^ haunt Japanese houses* 
Their bodies are as large as a filbert^ and the legs fully four 
inches from tip to tip* They are quite harmless^ but have a 
distinctly unpleasant look as they walk across the walls* One 
of the most ^* Japanesey^^ pictures I ever saw was a pair of tiny 
youngsters^ with arms round each other's necks^ standing in 
the passage-way watching the peregrinations of a kumo which 
was creeping on the other side of the semi-translucent shoji^ 
its body throwing a deep black shadow on the paper from the 
light of a lamp burning in the room* Rats are a great nuisance 
in Japanese houses^ because of the noise they make as they 
scamper over the thin resounding boards comprising the 
ceiling* But though I have often been disturbed by them, 
I have never seen one in any native inn* 

Walls have ears in Japanese rooms, and even a sotto voce 
conversation held in an adjoining chamber can be heard* Not 
only have they ears, but they have eyes as well, and it is not 
an unknown occurrence for a bright feminine one to be seen 
peeping through a hole in the paper shoji* Occasionally you 
may detect a finger in the act of making such a hole, or en- 
larging one already made* The paper is fixed to the frame- 
work so tightly that when a finger is poked through it, it makes 
a very audible ^*pop''; so to obviate this the tip of the finger 
is moistened, and a slight twisting motion enables the hole 
to be bored quite noiselessly* More than once I have caught 
the offending finger as it entered, and always found the owner 
to be some laughing, mischievous maid* Once when I was 
staying at an inn in a country district I noticed a peculiar 
noise at night as I lay in bed, but put it down to mice* A 
suspicion, however, crossed my mind that it was something 
larger when I distinctly heard a whisper, so, jumping out 
of the futons, I threw open the shoji — to see three pairs of 
white-socked feet flying down the corridor as fast as they 
could go, whilst shouts of laughter filled the narrow passage 
from the merry little neisans who owned them* 




THE PICTURE-BOOK 



THE HOUSE AND THEICHILDREN 53 

The frailty of Japanese houses necessitates the children 
being brought up from infancy to be careful; but Japanese 
children seem instinctively to respect such delicate things as 
paper walls and windows* Seeing the gentleness and care of 
their elders^ they grow up to be solicitous of everything^ and 
the most delicate things may be left about without fear of 
being harmed* 

During festival occasions I have seen thousands of paper 
lanterns hung from frail bamboo poles along streets which 
were filled with vast crowds of merry-makers* Yet these 
delicate things were never harmed* This alone speaks volumes 
for the gentleness of the people and their bringing up; those 
who can be so heedful for other people's belongings may well 
be trusted to take good care of their own* Yet this daintiness 
and frailness of their surroundings does not make the people 
mawkish or effeminate^ as recent history has clearly shown* 
The national love and daily use of dainty and beautiful things 
tends to make a people high-spirited and refined of nature, 
and such qualities will carry a nation further than mere brute 
courage and animal strength* 

When I was staying at a hotel in Kumamoto, in Southern 
Japan, a Japanese banker and his family had the adjoining 
rooms to mine* The family consisted of two little girls, aged 
seven and nine respectively* We soon made friends with each 
other, and every day the pair came to visit me in my room* 
In everything they did those two little girls were the model of 
well-bred courtesy and elegance, and self-consciousness or 
shyness was unknown to them, though they were full of sweet 
childish modesty* They taught me their games and I taught 
them new ones, and at every visit they asked to see my photo- 
graphs of Japan* These they would examine as they sat on 
the tatami, laying each picture, as it was done with, aside with 
care* And when their mother called them, these two delightful 
little creatures would bow their heads to the mats, as they 
voiced the prettiest thanks, and with a happy ''sayonara'^ 
instantly run to obey the mother's bidding, never waiting 
for a second summons* 



54 IN LOTUS-LAND 

But not all Japanese children are as attractive and winning 
as are^ those of the middle and upper classes* The children 
of the peasantry are often more repelling than engaging^ as 
too often they have the dribbliest of noses and other un- 
attractive distinctions* A great percentage of them suffer 
from a skin affection which covers their shaven heads with 
a mass of scabs* No attempt is made to cure the ailment^ as 
to let it run its course is said to ensure stamina and vigour 
later on in life* The infection is possibly conveyed from poll 
to poll by means of unclean barbers^ brushes^ but Miss Bacon ^ 
offers the explanation that it is due to the sudden change 
from mother's milk to adult food* Japanese children are not 
weaned until four or five years old^ when they are at once 
put on to adult diet^ there being no middle course^ for special 
feeding of children is considered unnecessary* The natural 
consequence is to upset the stomach completely; therefore 
it is about the age of weaning that the disfiguring complaint 
usually breaks out^ and it lasts for years* In some villages 
more than half the children suffer thus, apparently without 
any inconvenience* 

It is quite remarkable how the children of adjacent villages 
differ in appearance* At Boju, a village within the outer crater 
walls of the volcano Aso-san, I noticed that the youngsters 
playing on the roads were neat and comely; whereas at Miyaji* 
another village not two miles away, they were dirty, ill-kempt, 
and ugly* The children of the well-to-do, however, are usually 
the very dearest little creatures, and as different from the 
peasant youngsters as are the children of Kensington from 
the gamins of Poplar* 

One of the most delightful characteristics of Japanese 
children is their courtesy, not only to strangers but to their 
parents and each other* It is certainly charming to see school 
children greeting each other at the school gate with a bow, 
and to see the respect which the young, one and all, pay to 
the old* 

Not only are children gentle and courteous to their elders 
^ Japanese Girls and Women* 





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EVENING IN JAPAN 



THE HOUSE AND THE CHILDREN 55 

in Japan^ but their elders are also gentle and courteous to them* 
Courtesy is mutuaL Children do not get '* spanked ^^ and 
**sat upon^^ in Japan* They do not need it* Their bringing 
up is such that they do not become ^* smart '^ and precocious* 
There are no enfants terribles in Japan* Young and old pull 
together* The old folk never forget that they themselves 
were at one time youngs and the young seem to divine 
instinctively what is due to age* There is mutual considera- 
tion as well as mutual courtesy* From infancy Japanese 
children are taught that self-restraint is one of the greatest 
of virtues^ and this teaching manifests itself in a total 
absence among all classes of the irritableness of many 
Europeans* Japan has been called a '* Paradise of Babies/' 
and Professor Chamberlain has offered the comment^ '*The 
babies are generally so good as to help to make it a paradise 
for adults*'" 

The fact is^ Japan is a pleasant land for every one^ for 
consideration is the birthright of one and all* What could be 
more convincing evidence of this universal goodwill than 
New Year's time^* This is the season for the battledore 
and shuttle-cock^ and every street is filled with youngsters 
playing the game* Not only do the children play it^ but the 
elders join in too* Father and mother come out to play as 
merrily as the young ones^ and even grandfather unbends 
his rheumatic legs and makes a few dabs at the flying 
shuttle-cocks* Sometimes the passing postman chips in as 
he jog-trots by, and I have even seen the police-officer, 
whose deportment is usually more dignified than a beadle's, 
playing as gaily as any of the rest with a score of children 
and soldiers* 

That Japan is a children's paradise is quite apparent from 
the hour one arrives in the land* Comical little people romp 
about the streets quite regardless of the passing traffic* 
There are no side-walks, and the roadway is the common 
property of all* The children seemingly have as much 
right to play their games there as have the kurumaya 
to run with their rikishas, and the latter avoid the former 



56 IN LOTUS-LAND 

muchTmore assiduously than the former trouble about 
the latter* 

The way Japanese children of tender years run and play 
about with babies on their backs is one of the first things 
noticed by a foreigner* It seems a reckless thing to trust a 
baby of a few months old to a child of four on the open street, 
yet this is what may be seen anywhere* Every child is trained 
to carry another child from the time it begins to walk* At the 
age of two it has a large doll tied to its back, and the doll is 
replaced by a larger one later on; thus, when baby sister 
arrives, baby brother of three or four is already ^* broken in*' 
for riding, and little sister is lashed to his back, without 
more ado, the very first time she takes the air* In this way, 
from earliest infancy, Japanese babies associate with their 
elder brothers and sisters in all their games; thus they 
are cultivating an intelligent interest in all around them, 
at a time when babies in other lands are still prattling in 
their cradles* 

The children have two special yearly holidays — one for 
the girls and one for the boys* The girls' fete is held on 
March 3rd, when every little maid in the land brings out her 
dolls for one great annual party* Some little girls have hundreds 
of them, which are carefully placed away for the rest of the 
year* Many of the dolls are heirlooms that have given pleasure 
to mother and grandmother, and great- and great-great-grand- 
mother before them; and many are wonderful and costly 
works of art* The boys' holiday is the 5th May, its great 
feature being a long bamboo pole outside every house where 
there is a boy* Hanging to the pole are several large paper or 
cotton carp, which float in the breeze and resemble the fish 
swimming in the water* They are hollow, and have round, 
open mouths, through which the wind blows and keeps the 
body firmly bellied out* ** The idea," says Professor Chamber- 
lain, **is that as the carp swims up the river against the current, 
so will the sturdy boy, overcoming all obstacles, make his 
way in the world and rise to fame and fortune*" 




A LOTUS-POND 



CHAPTER VI 

KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 

The nearest provincial point of interest to the port of Yoko- 
hama is the ancient city of Kamakura^ which owes its historical 
fame to Yoritomo^ the founder of the Shogunate^ who chose 
it for his capital in 1192* 

For generations prior to that time the high-spirited aristo- 
cracy of Japan^ tired of the effeminacy of the Mikadoes courts 
had seethed with impatient desire for more manly dominion* 
Eventually this unrest broke out into open warfare between 
the two greatest families in the land — the Taira and Minamoto 
clans — ^and during the latter half of the eleventh and the whole 
of the twelfth century the heads of these clans alternately 
rose to almost Imperial power^ as the fortunes of war favoured 
the one or the other* 

Yoritomo, a scion of the illustrious house of Minamoto^ 
was born in 1147^ and thirty-eight years later the vendetta 
of his clan with the Taira^ which had filled a hundred and 
fifty years with bloodshed^ culminated in the battle of Dan- 
no-ura, which was fought on the Inland Sea near Shimonoseki* 
This conflict^ in which some accounts state Yoritomo com- 
pletely exterminated his rivals and their whole army^ putting 
even women and children to the sword, is the most famous 
in mediaeval history, and an epic of Japan* 

The name of Yoritomo, great as it is, is yet one of the most 
hated in Japanese history* But his crushing victory over his 
enemies, even though he pursued it to such extremes, is not 
responsible for this feeling* The odium in which he is held 
is due to his inhuman treatment of the popular hero Yoshi- 
tsune* For his terrible vengeance he had a personal cause; 

57 



58 IN LOTUS-LAND 

but for his inhumanity to Yoshitsune he had none* Yoshitsune 
was his half-brother by the famous court beauty Tokiwa 
Gozen^ the favourite concubine of their father Yoshitomo* 
When Yoritomo was a boy of twelve^ and Yoshitsune but a 
baby in arms^ the Taira clan were predominant^ and their 
menace developed into a massacre in which no quarter was 
given^ so that the Minamoto were threatened with extinction* 
At this point in Japanese history there occurred a dramatic 
incident which later entailed the forfeit of thousands of lives* 
Tokiwa escaped from the massacre with her sons; but Kiyo- 
mori^ the leader of the Taira — a crafty and tyrannical autocrat^ 
who made every beautiful woman he fancied serve his pleasure 
— ^numbered among his captives Tokiwa's mother^ for whose 
ransom he would accept only the surrender of Tokiwa and 
her children* Filial duty being the greatest of Japanese virtues^ 
he knew well that the daughter would sacrifice herself to 
save her mother* 

On hearing of her mother's capture^ Tokiwa^ who was 
in hiding under the care of a pitying Taira soldier, at once 
decided to yield herself up, and appeared before Kiyomori, 
appealing by her beauty that he would spare her mother and 
her children* Unfortunately for his kinsmen and their offspring 
as yet unborn — ^for he himself died before the vengeance 
fell — Kiyomori granted her request, conditionally that she 
submitted to his embraces* 

Twenty-six years later the historic battle of Dan-no-ura, 
and the extermination of the rival faction, was the penalty 
exacted by Yoritomo for this dishonour of his mother* 

Yoshitsune was his elder brother's right hand in the fight; 
and it is said the laurels of victory were really his, for it was 
he who, by his braver, stronger, and kinder nature, was beloved 
by every one, and he thereby gained support for his brother 
in the great position which the latter filled* This ever-growing 
popularity Yoritomo feared, and planned his brother's des- 
truction; but Yoshitsune escaped, and fled to Northern Japan 
with his faithful henchman Benkei, the companion of his 
boyhood* Yoritomo 's spies pursued the pair, and one account 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 59 

says that they were treacherously murdered on the banks of 
the Koromo river in Yesjo. Another account states that when 
they found all was lost they disembowelled themselves* Both 
reports^ however^ agree that Yoshitsune^s head was sent to 
his brother at Kamakura^ preserved in a tub of sake; and to 
this day the hero is worshipped as a god by the Ainu aborigines 
in the northern island* 

Though Kamakura was once the first city of the land^ and 
the capital of the Shoguns for over two hundred and fifty 
years^ it is now but a shadow of its bygone greatness* It can 
stilly however^ show many famous buildings to attest its former 
glory* Its one-time population of over a million has shrunk 
to but a few hundred souls; yet no other city in Japan can 
boast a more stirring record* In its day the city was the scene 
of constant strife* Over and over again it rose from ashes^ for 
it was repeatedly sacked; and tidal waves devastated it utterly 
more than once* These disasters and cataclysms the city 
survived, but as Yedo became the Shogun's capital and rose 
to prosperity, Kamakura fell into ruin, until to-day it is little 
more than a pretty hamlet* 

One of Kamakura's finest sights is the Hachiman temple, 
which was rebuilt in 1828 after a conflagration seven years 
previously* Hachiman is the Chinese name under which the 
Emperor 0-Jin — ^who on his death in a*d* 313 was deified as 
the God of War — ^is worshipped* The shrines are most beauti- 
fully situated on the side of a wooded hill, with an avenue of 
stately old pine-trees, in which the ravages of time and tempest 
have left many gaps, leading straight up to the temple stair- 
ways from the seashore* In this avenue are three very fine 
old stone torii,^ whose simple lines and dignified proportions 
have a severe and solemn beauty, harmonising perfectly with 
the restfulness of the stone-bordered lotus-ponds and bridges 
and broad flights of stone steps in the temple grounds* They 
were wonderful artists, as well as architects, who could so 
plan the approaches to such old Japanese sanctuaries that 
even a foreigner becomes deeply impressed and subdued in 

^ See page 219. 



6o IN|LOTUS-LAND 

spirit by their influence long before the temples themselves 
are reached* 

At the base of the great main stairway at the end of all 
these torii^ bridges^ and lotus-ponds^ there is a giant old icho 
tree^ which is believed to be over a thousand years of age* 
Whether it has the power to spray water from its leaves in the 
event of a conflagration^ like its mate in the Nishi Hongwanji 
temple at Kyoto/ tradition does not say; probably it has not, 
since it allowed some of the buildings to burn a hundred 
years ago* 

Once I visited this temple of the god, who understands 
so well his business, the day after the news of the fall of Port 
Arthur, during the war with Russia, was received* Its usually 
almost deserted avenues and stairways were thronged with 
people* Young men and maidens, old men and women, and 
children of every class of society, with one accord were visiting 
0-Jin^s shrine to return thanks for the victory he had vouch- 
safed to the Japanese arms* Quietly they came, and quietly 
they went away* There was no elation in their bearing, for, 
in this their hour of triumph, dread was gnawing at their 
hearts* These were fathers, mothers, wives, brothers, and 
children of those gallants who, across the seas in a foreign 
land, were risking all for Emperor, home, and country; and 
as yet many knew not whether their dear ones had fallen in 
the strife* This only they knew, that success had been 
gained at terrible cost; and my heart ached for those gentle 
wives and aged parents, who, with humble mien, and heads 
bowed in the agony of suspense, flocked to the War-god^s 
shrine to pray* 

A few months later I stood on 203-metre Hill at Port 
Arthur* As I looked over its scarred and shell-torn slopes, 
and across the surrounding hills and valleys, they were fur- 
rowed with trenches as far as the eye could reach, and littered 
with the broken impedimenta of war, whilst four great battle- 
ships, two fine cruisers, and a fleet of smaller craft lay sunk 
in the harbour, their upper works rising above the waves* 

^ See page 314* 




A SHINTO PRIEST 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 6i 

Near me a long trench had been filled in, and at each end of it 
there was a post with the simple inscription in Japanese, *'A 
hundred soldiers of Japan are buried here/^ Close to it there 
was another trench, and the inscription, nailed to a cross, was 
in Russian, '*Here lie a hundred faithful soldiers of the C2;ar/* 
There were many such trenches, and the air was filled with a 
nauseating stench from the buried corpses* 

Friend and foe lay side by side in death, and as I stood 
with bared head on that historic ground, I thought of the 
scene I had witnessed at the War-god^s shrine at Kamakura 
— of those young wives widowed, and those gentle old folk 
bereaved of perhaps their only sons and bread-winners* I 
thought of Japanese homes bereft; of mothers, daughters, and 
sweethearts mourning in silent anguish; of wrinkled grand- 
mothers and stooping grandfathers bending in sorrow before 
the household shrine — their hearts rent with grief, yet swelling 
with pride, for, though grief be bitter, it was sweet to have 
bred sons who scoffed at death and suffering when the Reaper^s 
scythe was whetted on the stone of honour* 

During the war with Russia a great deal was written by 
correspondents about Japanese soldiers being eager for death, 
and their wives and parents sending them forth hoping that 
they might die for their country* Such articles were produced 
by writers who were in Japan for the first time, who neither 
understood the people nor the language, and who allowed their 
own enthusiasm for a picturesque land and people to run 
away with their pens* It is impossible for aliens who cannot 
speak Japanese to gain more than a superficial knowledge of 
the people; and many foreigners, who have spent a life- 
time in the land, admit they are little nearer to compre- 
hending the Japanese heart than when they first came* 
Though I have talked with numerous parents, and with 
numbers of Japanese soldiers — at home, and in the field, 
and in the hospital — I have never met a single Japanese 
soldier who wanted to die, and I never met any father, or 
mother, or wife so inhuman as to hope that their son or 
husband might be killed* 



62 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Life is just as sweet to the Japanese soldier as to any other^ 
and perhaps sweeter than to many^ since he lives in such a 
scenic paradise* He is naturally anxious^ therefore^ to pro- 
long that life as much as possible* Like any other soldier^ he 
wants to kill as many of the enemy as he can^ but he hopes 
to keep his own life safe^ and body intact^ in doing so. He 
does not fear deaths but he does not court it^ for he is far too 
sensible to forget that it is live men^ not dead ones^ who 
win battles* 

Among the relics of Yoritomo which are preserved in the 
Hachiman temple there may be seen a gleaming strip of steely 
before which every Japanese soldier bows^ and reverently 
sucks his breath between his teeth^ for it is regarded as some- 
thing almost sacred* It is a sword which has helped to carve 
Japanese history: a blade by Masamune^ the greatest sword- 
smith the world has ever produced* Soldiers^ armourers^ and 
all who live for the art of war are Hachiman's special proteges; 
and the sword^ the weapon of old Japan^ was so venerated in 
feudal days that in the interesting study its history affords 
much insight can be gained into the feelings which sway 
the Japanese mind* 

In 1876^ the eighth year of Meiji — the Enlightened Era 
— the Imperial Edict went forth that from the ist of January^ 
1877^ the wearing of the sword would be a punishable offence* 
That the proclamation was received without a murmur speaks 
volumes for the unanimity and enthusiasm with which the 
Japanese^ to a man^ had come to recognise the new order of 
things* It was the signal that the very last remaining threads 
of the old fabric of Feudalism had snapped* Prior to that time 
every Japanese gentleman wore two swords^ and his father 
had worn two before him; and his ancestors^ for generations 
going back into hazy antiquity, had done likewise* The wearing 
of the sword was one of the oldest institutions of the land, yet 
such had been the moral effect of Commodore Perry ^s ships; 
the signing of the treaties; the opening of Yokohama, and 
the bombardments of Shimonoseki and Kagoshima, that, 
when the edict went forth, not a protest was raised, not a blow 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 63 

was struck^ not a murmur was heard throughout Japan* It 
was as if the people were da2;ed by the rapid sequence of events^ 
which^ like a floods was bearing them along on its bosom 
they knew not whither* 

It had been feared that the samurai would rise in revolt 
against this decree^ which dispossessed them of the most 
precious insignia of their rank* To the amazement of all^ 
however, they did not wait to be stripped by force; and, ii 
they did not beat their swords into ploughshares and prun- 
ing-hooks, they cast into their lumber-rooms, or sold to 
the curio-shops, unhesitatingly, weapons that a few months 
before they would ^*less willingly have parted with than 
with life itself*'' 

"'The sword is the living soul of the samurai,'' said the 
great Shogun lyeyasu* To wear it was the most cherished 
privilege of the feudal knight* Even as a tiny boy at school, 
struggling with intricacies of the Chinese ideographs, he 
wore a dirk in his girdle — for was not this the outward and 
visible sign of the proud indomitable spirit within: the 
external badge of the fighting blood that ran in his warrior 
veins ^ As he grew to man's estate not only did it serve to 
protect his life wherever he went — and in a land where 
the slightest breach of a rigid etiquette might hold a life 
as forfeit, there were times when death might lurk in 
any shadow — but it served to protect what was dearer to 
him still, the life of his liege lord, the Daimyo to whom he 
owed allegiance* 

Seeing, then, that his sword was loved by the samurai 
as his own soul, it is not strange that the craft of the sword- 
smith was esteemed the highest in the land; and that those 
who were able to forge a blade which would stand every test 
without turning edge, gained for themselves high distinction, 
if not social position, and won renown in the annals of Japan 
far eclipsing that attained by any one in any other craft* The 
names of the greatest of these are as immortal on the scroll 
of fame as are those of Kob5 Daishi, the talented Buddhist 
saint; Yoshitsune, the half-brother of Yoritomo; or Oishi 



64 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Kuranosuke, the leader of the Forty-seven Ronins* There is 
no schoolboy in Japan who does not know them* 

About the end of the thirteenth century Masamune lived 
at Kamakura^ and practised his craft* A highly-esteemed 
Japanese friend told me of an incident of the great sword- 
maker's life^ which I relate as showing something of the heart 
of the man^ hard and unrelenting as the steel he forged^ and 
his temper, keen and flashing as his blades* 

Masamune had a son who assisted him in his work, but 
whom he had enjoined never to pry too closely into his methods* 
The son was, however, of a curious and inquiring nature, and 
was continually searching for the key which would unlock his 
father's secrets* The swordsmith had forbidden him ever to 
put his hand into the water in which the blades were hardened* 
Thinking that here lay the solution to the mystery of the 
marvellously-tempered edge, which, before it was whetted, 
would rebound uninjured from a two-handed blow given by 
a strong man against a bar of cast iron, Masamune the younger, 
one day whilst his father's back was turned, dipped his hand 
into the vessel which held the water to ascertain its tempera- 
ture* At that moment the master, with an unfinished blade 
in his hand, turned round* Without a moment's hesitation 
he dealt a slashing blow, from which his son only escaped 
death by leaping aside* But though the blow missed the head 
at which it was struck, it severed the right arm at the shoulder; 
and to this day the son, who also rose to some distinction in 
the craft, is known in history as Hidari Masamune or Left- 
Handed Masamune* 

Hji The names of the three other greatest sword-makers of 
Japanese history are Munechika, who flourished in the tenth 
century; Muramasa, towards the end of the fourteenth century; 
and Yoshimitsu, who was a contemporary of Masamune* 
All the existing weapons which they made are now in public 
or private collections, and the domicile of every blade produced 
by these renowned swordsmiths is known* There are not many 
of them* Masamune's output in particular was very small, 
for he broke every blade which did not please him* 




AMIDA, THE BUDDHA 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 65 

Other swords by the great masters may be seen at the 
military museum at Shdkonsha^ Tokyo* These old Japanese 
swords have no rivals in the world* They excel even the cele- 
brated blades of Toledo* At the famous factory on the Tagus 
I have seen wondrous marvels of the cutler's art: blades of 
temper so true that they might be bent point to hilt and would 
spring back straight as before; and if you ran your eye along 
the rasjor edge you would find it neither swerved to left nor 
right by so much as the breadth of a single hair* I have seen 
there^ also, a little round box into which was coiled what looked 
like a thick clock-spring* It had nothing to do with the life 
of a clock, however, but could play havoc with the life of a 
man, for, on being released, it sprang out with an angry hiss, 
as though raging at the confinement in which it had been kept, 
into a beautiful sword, straight and true as an arrow* 

But the Japanese swords will not bend* They were made 
of soft magnetic iron combined with hard steel, and the heating 
for tempering was done in a charcoal furnace* The making 
of a blade often took as long as sixty days, and was, in the 
case of renowned makers, accompanied by much etiquette, 
and even looked upon as a religious ceremony* When temper- 
ing the blade the smith donned a black cap; and in the process 
the back and sides of the blade were protected by clay, only 
half an inch or so being left exposed* The edge of this fireclay 
cover was moulded by each maker into a particular design, 
which, in the hardening, transferred itself to the metal* These 
patterns are now among the surest means of identifying an 
unsigned blade* 

Baron Terauchi, the former Minister of War, and the 
late Prince Ito — ^whose collections of swords I had the honour 
of being shown by the owners in person — as they tenderly 
drew each blade from the simple sheath of plain hinoki-wood 
in which it was kept, would invariably draw my attention to 
the pattern of the tempered edge* There were designs of 
Fuji, and of pine-trees bending in the wind, and various 
landscape scenes, and so forth* 

The Japanese literature of the sword is most voluminous* 



66 IN LOTUS-LAND 

In the study of his beautiful country house at Oiso, where 
Prince Ito kept his sword-racks^ I noticed that one end of 
the room was entirely covered with hundreds of volumes 
on shelves^ "'They are all books about swords; it would 
take a lifetime to master them/' the famous old statesman 
told me* 

As the weapon of old Japan was looked upon by its owner 
as his richest possession^ and was loved by him as his own 
life^ it is but natural that^ in a land where love of art is 
innate in every breast^ the sword and its furnishings should 
have been considered suitable objects for the reception of 
embellishment in its most highly-skilled forms* ''^ Artists 
of the highest attainments spared nothing to render it an 
article of the highest artistic value/' ^ 

"^Daimios often spent extravagant sums upon a single 
sword^ and small fortunes upon a collection* A samurai^ 
however poor^ would have a blade of sure temper and rich 
mountings, deeming it honourable to suffer for food that 
he might have a worthy emblem of his rank*'' ^ 

There are probably no people more conversant with the 
history, mythology, and legends of their country than the 
Japanese* This is because history forms one of the principal 
subjects in the school curriculum; and Japanese history is 
such a continuous record of tragedy, romance, self-sacrifice and 
heroism, that artists have found in it most of the motives by 
which they have been inspired* 

Japanese mythology sometimes becomes almost as beautiful 
as that of the ancient Greeks, and the legends, which are 
woven about every famous place in the land, are so charming 
that the study of them is an inexhaustible feast of high-spirited 
sentiment and poetic thought* Enlightened in this fascinating 
lore at his mother's knee, the Japanese boy has seen it, and 
almost every romantic episode of history, depicted so often in 
every phase of art, that, as the years pass by, they become 
so interwoven with his life as to seem an integral part of 
his own existence* 

^ M* B. Huish, The Art of Japan* ^ Griffis, Mikado* s Empire* 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 67 

Need one wonder^ then^ that artists so loved to depict 
their ideals of these things; and that craftsmen, skilled in the 
art of working in metals, put forth their finest efforts in applying 
them to the adornment of the sword $* 

In the 2;enith of its history Kamakura was the home of 
these and many other arts, and the blades in the Hachiman 
temple are relics of those prosperous days* 

In the old days, too, many of the famous metal-workers 
lived at Kamakura, and here was cast the finest of the numerous 
statues of Buddha in Japan* The Daibutsu, or Great Buddha, 
has passed through many vicissitudes in its eventful history, 
but never was the danger of annihilation more menacing than 
when an American visitor, whose scent for a business deal 
was keener than his reverence for ancient monuments, offered 
thirty thousand dollars for it, as material for the melting-pot* 
Though the offer was more rational than the proposal to 
transport Stonehenge across the Atlantic, it was fortunately 
declined, and Japan's greatest work of art was thus saved from 
an ignominious end for the praise and prayers of future 
generations* 

The measurements of the Daibutsu, as given in a booklet 
sold by the priests, are much exaggerated* Every writer on 
Japan has accepted the Japanese figures without question, and 
they have frequently been quoted* But a cursory glance at 
the photograph herein proves the guide-book figures in- 
correct* It was made with a sixteen-inch lens from a distance 
of fifty yards, so that there is no distortion* The distance from 
knee to knee is quoted as thirty-five feet, eight inches — ^which 
is correct* The height is given as forty-nine feet, seven inches; 
but the height is almost exactly the same as the length from knee 
to knee* The length of the face is given as eight feet, five inches, 
which is about right* This is approximately a sixth of the 
stated height, whereas, as the photograph clearly shows, the 
face is almost one-fourth of the total height of the figure, 
not including the stone pedestal* The width of face from ear 
to ear is said to be seventeen feet nine inches — more than 
double the length; but the length and width of face are very 



68 IN LOTUS-LAND 

nearly identicaL I have often estimated the height of the 
figure^ when inspecting it^ as about thirty-six feet^ and 
examination of the photograph confirms these figures* The 
height as given by the Japanese^ and quoted by Murray's 
Handbook^ is an exaggeration of nearly fourteen feet* 

The eyes are said to be of pure gold^ and the wisdom boss 
on the forehead composed of thirty pounds of silver* This 
information may^ or may not, be more reliable than the 
measurements* Who can say i But through the narrow 
slits between the nearly closed lids such parts of the eyes 
as can be seen appear to be of dark green bronze, like the 
rest of the figure* 

It is not, however, by mere bulk that the Daibutsu im- 
presses, but by the truly wonderful manner in which it sym- 
bolises the teaching of the Buddhist faith; the pose is no less 
beautiful than the expression* There is something supremely 
sad in the gentle drooping of the head, but to realise the beauty 
of the pose one must stand near and look up into the face* To 
do so is to feel subdued and awed by the infinite com- 
passion, and peace, and understanding, written in the serene 
and tranquil countenance* 

There are four of the works of man in the East that have 
left indelible impressions in my memory* They are the Shwe 
Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon, the Taj Mahal at Agra, the Great 
Wall of China, and the Kamakura Daibutsu* 

About the Shwe Dagon — that tapering golden finger 
piercing the turquoise sky by the great Irrawaddy — there is 
a delicious dream-like atmosphere, as one listens to its thousand 
tiny gongs, all tinkling in the heavily incensed air, and sees 
the fairest maids of Burma match their palms in prayer at its 
base each evening as the sun goes down* The Taj Mahal — 
that love-tale in marble and rare stones — pearl of India's 
buildings, and mirror of a great king's heart — seems also like 
some palace of a world of dreams* Before the Great Wall 
one has an indescribable feeling of awe, as the eye follows its 
interminable meanderings across the barren hills and sun- 
baked wastes of China* But the Daibutsu — that wondrous 




A PRIEST OP^ BUDDHA 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 69 

embodiment of Buddhist ideals — seems to be vestured in the 
very cloak of peace^ so subtly has the hand of man clothed 
it with serenity and spiritual calm* 

Although the name of the artist who designed it is unknown^ 
none but a master could have conceived it^ for every line of its 
moulding contributes to the repose the figure seems to emanate^ 
Yet the god is not in repose^ for scrutiny shows that the nearly 
closed eyes are watchful and alert^ and the attitude is not that 
of ease^ but of repression and self-controL It is Amida^ the 
'' Ideal of Boundless Light/' wrapt in meditative calm^ con- 
centrated in the extinction of all earthly desire* 

At the top of a short flight of steps^ approached by an 
avenue of pine-trees^ in a beautiful garden with soft lawns^ 
lotus-ponds^ and sotetsu palms^ the image; rests^ like some 
great guardian spirit^ '* sitting for ever waiting for the world 
to die/' For six and a half centuries the Daibutsu has stood 
the ravages of time^ and twice (1369 and 1494) it has breasted^ 
without injury^ tidal waves which swept the great sanctuary 
that sheltered it^ and the city of Kamakura^ off the earths 
It dates from 1252^ and was cast in seven separate layers^ 
which were welded together and finished off with the chiseL 
Four centuries and more of exposure to the weather^ since 
the temple was last destroyed^ have stained the bron2;e to a 
brownish green* The great building which formerly en- 
shrined the image was fifty yards square^ and its roof was 
supported by sixty-three immense wooden pillars resting on 
stone bases^ many of which may still be traced* For many 
years the priests have been collecting funds to rebuild the 
temple* It is to be hoped^ however^ that the money may be 
applied to some other purpose^ for^ even though the site is 
not an ideal one^ the image is far more impressive framed 
with palms and pines and cherry-trees^ than it could ever be 
imprisoned in a building — ^judging by the effect achieved at 
Nara^ where another and larger^ though much inferior^ Great 
Buddha is to be seen in the Todaiji temple* 

Owing to the silly and irreverent pranks of foreign visitors^ 
who used to climb up on to the hands of the Daibutsu^ it is 



70 IN LOTUS-LAND 

now only with great difficulty that one can obtain anything 
better than surreptitious snapshots of it, unless one buys the 
photographs sold by the priests and others* An elaborate 
formula must be gone through* Not only is the consent of the 
custodians necessary to use a camera, but one must go to 
them armed with a permit from the naval headquarters at 
Yokosuka before they will consider the matter* Some time is 
necessary to secure this concession, and even then a substantial 
donation must be made to the building fund before the priests 
will endorse the naval document with their acquiescence* 
Not that there is anything to grumble at in this, for the 
authorities are, of course, justified in making any terms they 
please* If one does not desire to make studies of one's own, 
one can go to any photographer's in Yokohama, and there 
buy, for 20 sen, a photograph of the Daibutsu as proof of 
what spectacles one's countrymen sometimes make of them- 
selves when abroad* Many of the negatives of these photo- 
graphs were taken thirty years ago, when conditions were 
less stringent; and as the courteous priests then permitted 
liberties, which are now denied, some visitors abused the 
privilege by clambering all over the image, which to the Jap- 
anese is sacred, and were even photographed, often in ridiculous 
poses, on its hands and arms* Looking at such photographs, 
one wonders why the Japanese do not insist on all foreigners 
carrying a properly verified certificate of sanity before allowing 
them to go anywhere at all* 

It is a remarkable thing that some people, when abroad, 
seem to treat the natives of the lands they visit as creatures 
quite apart from fellow human beings, and conduct themselves 
as they would never dream of doing at home* I once saw, at 
Kamakura, a tourist and his wife, both of whom were past 
middle age and old enough to know better, standing before 
a Japanese policeman and discussing him as if he were graven 
in stone* The policeman tried hard to look dignified as he was 
carefully examined and commented on from the peak of his 
cap to his well-polished boots, but he stood the ordeal well 
until the man took hold of the hilt of his (the policeman's) 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 71 

sword^ and drew it from the scabbard^ before the latter realised 
that such an act was contemplated* The officer snatched his 
weapon back^ not having the slightest idea of the foreigner's 
intention^ and replaced it in its sheath without a word^ though 
his eyes were blading with anger. No one unfamiliar with 
Japan could imagine the magnitude of such an insult^ for 
there is plenty of the old spirit remaining^ and many of the 
police are of samurai blood. To the samurai of old even so 
much as to touch his sword would have meant a matter of life 
or deaths and as for drawing his blade unasked — such a thing 
was unknown. An interested crowd of spectators laughed 
at the policeman's embarrassment^ for he was quite at a loss 
what to do, courtesy forbidding him to interfere with a foreigner 
accompanied by a woman, though he evidently regarded him 
as not responsible for his acts. An American friend, with whom 
I had watched the incident, went to the officer's assistance 
at this juncture, and when he had told his compatriot what 
he thought of him, in language ungamished with any flowers 
of speech, and asked him how a New York constable would 
be likely to treat any inquisitive foreigner who tried to snatch 
his baton away, the now shamefaced offenders were glad to 
flee from the laughter of the crowd (who had understood the 
meaning of the altercation, if not the language in which it was 
couched), and the policeman, grateful at being helped out of 
an awkward situation, thanked my companion with many 
salutes and repetitions of ^'arigato go^aimas" ('*I thank you 
very much"). 

The Daibutsu is hollow, of course, and one may go through 
a door cut in the bronze lotus-petals on which the figure 
reposes, and climb a ladder to the head, in the back of which 
there is a window. There is also a shrine inside, dedicated to 
the Goddess of Mercy; but it is better to leave all this unseen, 
as it is too disenchanting. 

High on the slopes of one of the most densely wooded of 
Kamakura's lovely hills, facing the morning sun, and com- 
manding a glorious view, stands Hasedera, sacred to Kwannon, 
Goddess of Mercy. In spring-time its heavily-thatched old 



72 IN LOTUS-LAND 

roofs and balconies peep out from a veritable forest of cherry- 
blossoms; whilst in the autumn^ the hillsides above^ below^ 
and all around the temple burn with crimson maple leaves* 
Long flights of grey old steps^ all spotted with moss and 
lichens^ lead upwards^ and from the weather-beaten and 
time-worn balconies one looks over rice-fields^ covering the 
land like mosaic work^ to yellow towering cliffs* Away to the 
right the mighty Pacific spends its force in a line of foam on 
a crescent bay of silver sand* All is beautiful* Everywhere 
is peace* 

An old priest came out to greet me^ and to show me what 
there was to see* At the entrance to the temple my attention 
was arrested by a printed notice in English* The English was 
so perfect^ and the language used so beautiful^ that I quote 
it herewith in toto: 

Proposed Restoration of Has^dera 

It is my earnest desire, and the one wish and object of my whole life, to 
put this ancient temple (which is dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy) into 
good and lasting repair, and towards that end I have worked steadfastly for 
many years, but the money collected is far below the total sum required, 
and, owing to the poorness of my parish, the restoration fund accumulates 
very slowly* I therefore appeal to and entreat all friends, whether Japanese 
or Foreign, entering this Sanctuary, to assist me in proportion to their means 
with funds to restore and preserve an Historical Landmark and Church to 
Prosperity; in order that, when time shall have blended the present living 
with the bygone dead, Hasedera may still stand in Kamakura to point a moral 
to future generations, and to serve as a place for the Everlasting and Im- 
mutable Law whose doctrines, given to the world by the ** Light of Asia,*' 
the blessed Sakyamuni, have pointed the way through many a dark and 
troublous age to the Holy Path and the Pure Land, and guided the feet of 
countless weary pilgrims to the ** Haven of Eternal Peace in Nirvana/' 

Buddhism is no narrow creed confined to one community or nation. 
It is the Law of the Universe, which was before beginning, and is for ever 
without end: it is the Law of Cause and Effect, and it teaches of a Divine 
and Transcendent Power in Nature, vast and boundless as eternal space, 
and yet governing the most trivial circumstances of men's lives, and providing 
means of Salvation and eternal happiness, benevolent and welcome as light 
in a dark night. 

We adore thee, O eternal Buddha. 

Meiji 25th year 5th month (May 1892)* 

The Superior (Minister of the Jodo Sect). 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 73 

The image of Kwannon stands in an apartment behind 
the altar* For a fee of 50 sen the old priest conducted me into 
this chamber^ in which the darkness was Cimmerian until he 
struck a match and lighted a candle* For a moment or two I 
looked for the image in vain* I could make nothing out of 
what little could be seen* Then^ finding that I was only looking 
at its feet^ I raised my ga2;e gradually until it was lost in the 
darkness above* Lighting another candle^ and placing them 
both in iron frames^ the priest then drew them slowly up 
the figure^ lighting its different parts with weird effect^ until 
they finally stopped before the face, thirty feet above us* In 
that narrow chamber the goddess was of truly colossal si^e, 
and must surely be most awe-inspiring to the pilgrims who 
come here, whose faith is the light of their lives* To them the 
seance must be almost overpowering* 

The figure is said to be carved out of a single bole of a 
camphor-tree, lacquered and gilded* One of the huge hands 
holds a staff of shakudo, and the other is uplifted, holding a 
lotus-bud in the fingers, with a rosary hanging over the arm* 
The image is in excellent preservation, and, of course, legend 
has been busy with it* It is one of a pair carved by the gods, 
which they threw into the sea* This one floated into Sagami 
Bay, and was brought to Kamakura by two fishermen 1200 
years ago* 

The ever-busy Kob5 Daishi ^ carved an image of Daikoku, 
the God of Wealth, which squats on the right of a gilded 
Kwannon on the temple altar* The work is rough, but very 
curious, all the effects being gained with single slashes of the 
knife* There is also a pair of very fine old Ni-O ^ — ^well be- 
spattered with the spit-balls of the faithful — ^which, curiously 
enough, are inside the temple, a most unusual place to find 
them* Outside the sanctuary the naughty old Bin2;uru ^ 
expiates his indiscretion in disfigured and meditative solitude, 
as at Kiyomi^u in Kyoto* 

There are many more fine old temples at Kamakura: 
Enkakuji, with a monster bell; Komyoji, with its sixteen 
^ See page 83, ^ See page 254* ^ See page 202* 



74 IN LOTUS-LAND 

pools where Kobo Daishi bathed; Kenchoji^ with Yoritomo's 
war-drum^ magnificent old juniper-trees^ crumbling buildings^ 
and still stately gateway; and Ennoji^ with its celebrated image 
of Emma-O^ the god of the Buddhist hells* This figure is 
diabolical — ^which perhaps is not surprising seeing that it 
was executed by one Unkei^ a carver of gods^ who^ having 
died^ was summoned in due course before the Satanic deity^ 
who expressed much dissatisfaction at the portraits Unkei 
had made of him* He commanded Unkei^ now that he had 
seen him^ to return to earth and carve a better likeness* So 
Unkei returned and executed this image^ which is known as 
'*the work of Unkei redivivus*'^ The image is kept behind 
curtains^ which the priests draw back suddenly^ disclosing 
the hideous god in a frantic tantrum^ with gleaming eyes and 
teeth^ and malignant dark red face; but he is no more awe- 
inspiring than the Hindu Ganesh* 

The advent of the foreigner has been a godsend to Kama- 
kura* Thousands of transient visitors come annually to see 
the Daibutsu and other shrines^ and many English and Ameri- 
can merchants^ as well as Japanese, have villas there, to which 
they fly in summer from the heat of Yokohama and Tokyo* 
Not that Kamakura is a cool place; but the frequent breezes 
from the Pacific, and the ocean view and splendid bathing, 
even though the sea be tepid, offer change and relaxation from 
the greater heat of the cities* There are excellent hotels in 
both native and foreign style, and, altogether, Kamakura is a 
pleasant place to spend the summer, if business ties prevent 
one going up to the lakes, which lie farther afield* Kamakura 
is not an hour's journey from Yokohama, but Hakone, the 
nearest lake, is a good six hours away* 

There is a village named Katase four miles from Kama- 
kura* Electric cars run the distance, but at every season of 
the year the walk is lovely* The road skirts the glistening 
sands of Sagami Bay, where great rolling billows come curling 
in from the broad Pacific's purple ha^es; and, when the sun 
is shining, the green transparent waves are all shot and streaked 
with bluCt as, dragging long ribbons of kelp within them. 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 75 

they raise their crested manes to dash them into snowy foam 
upon the strand* 

This road teems with historical associations* At one place 
Nitta Yoshisada, a captain in the army of the deposed Mikado 
Go-Daigo^ marching on Kamakura to attack the forces of the 
Regent Tokdyori — head of the Hojo clan^ who had usurped 
the Imperial power — found his passage barred by cliffs^ 
defended by the H5j5 army and a line of war-junks lying a 
few hundred yards off-shore* Nothing daunted^ Yoshisada 
addressed a prayer to the sea-gods for help^ and^ drawing his 
sword^ cast it as an offering to the waves* Thereupon the 
waters parted^ just as the Red Sea did for the hosts of Israel^ 
and Yoshisada^s army marched in triumph into Kamakura* 
This dramatic episode has become immortal in song^ and is 
to be found illustrated in every phase of Japanese art and craft* 

Just before Katase is reached there is a little village called 
Koshigoe* At this spot Nichiren, the Buddhist saint^ mira- 
culously escaped death by execution^ to which he had been 
sentenced by Tokoyori for his excess of ^eal* Kneeling upon 
the silver strand^ and repeating the formula ** Namu-Myoho- 
Renge-Kyo^^ — ^which is the invocation of his sect to this day 
— upon his rosary^ he bowed his head for the executioner^s 
sword* The headsman raised his blade to give the two-handed 
blow^ when a blinding flash of lightning rent the heavens^ 
breaking the sword in pieces and striking dead the headsman^ 
whilst the holy priest remained uninjured* H5j5 Tokoyori, 
in his Kamakura palace, heard the crashing thunders, and saw 
the lightning flash in the cloudless sky* Terrified by these 
signs of the anger of the gods, he sent a messenger with a 
pardon for his victim; whilst at the same moment a runner 
was despatched to the palace from the execution ground to 
ask for further instructions* The two men met at a little 
stream that crosses the road, which to this day is called the 
** River of Meeting'*; and every Japanese child who passes 
it is taught the whole seven-hundred-years-old story* 

Katase is a little fishing village of no greater importance 
than hundreds like it round the coasts* It is not, however, to 



76 IN LOTUS-LAND 

study the fisherman^s life that thousands come here annually^ 
but to pass on to the sacred isle of Enoshima, one of the 
loveliest spots in all the Japanese archipelago* In this land of 
fascinating fable^ where every pretty spot is enshrouded in 
mystery and legend^ it is only right that Enoshima should 
have received its fair share of such lore* Like many other 
isles^ especially beloved^ it sprang out of the ocean-bed one 
nighty about twelve hundred years ago^ during violent con- 
tortions of the great fish, on the back of which Japan rests, 
whose wriggling causes the earthquakes* This particular 
upheaval was due to the wrath of Benten, the Goddess of Luck, 
who visited the spot to put an end to the ravages of a fierce 
dragon that dwelt in a submarine cave and devoured the 
maidens of the near-by village of Koshigoe* On the goddess 
appearing over the spot, the sea-bed rose to meet her* Des- 
cending from the clouds, she met and pacified the monster, 
and seems to have found him more amiable than she expected, 
for she forthwith married him* To this day a deep cave at 
the water level, which is sacred to her name, bears witness 
to the virtue of the story, and in a hundred forms of art you 
may see Benten and her dragon soaring away in the clouds* 
What further proofs of the truth of the story than these could 
any rational folk required* This incident in the life of the 
goddess has been dealt with in pleasant variety by native 
artists, but the most up-to-date of the changes that I have 
seen rung on it was a large poster depicting the deity and 
her dragon mate sitting on a cloud, exchanging broad smiles 
of satisfaction over the possession of a bottle of Japanese 
lager beer* 

Enoshima is enchanting enough, however, without its 
charming vesture of legend* You enter the holy isle through 
a fine old bronze torii at the water's edge, with tortoises 
climbing up wave-washed rocks carved at the bases of the 
uprights* It is a steep path to the summit, but as interesting 
as steep, for the road is bordered with curio-shops and quaint 
inns* This is the place to see all the wonders of Japanese 
conchology and the strange things of the sea* There are shops 



KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 77 

where shells of every imaginable kind and colour are displayed, 
and corals and rope-sponges too; and you may buy shell toys 
and ornaments, and pretty paintings on the halves of iridescent 
bivalves, and even natural sprays of cherry-trees with the 
tiniest and pinkest of testaceans cunningly clustered to form 
the petals of the blossoms* There are monster crabs, too, 
fearful-looking creatures — ^with small bodies, but with claws 
that measure ten feet from tip to tip — of a species which, it 
is said, has been known to attack living human beings, and 
even kill and devour them. These gigantic crustaceans are the 
bogies of the island children, who believe that they emerge 
from the sea at night and scour the rocks, searching for little 
girls and boys* 

On the hillside above the shops there are maple woods, 
with tortuous paths under red old pines; and at the sum- 
mit of the island there are restaurants and tea-houses, with 
beautiful vistas through the bristly branches of trees which 
lean at impossible angles over the cliffs, as though courting 
destruction in the waves below* On the southern horizon, 
Oshima, an island volcano, sends leaden smoke-wreaths to 
the clouds, and on the bosom of the sunlit Pacific the sails 
of junks and sampans gleam ^*like blown white flowers at sea**^ 

The proper thing to do at Enoshima is to have one of the 
fish dinners for which the place is noted* You can have it at 
the Kinkiro, or some other of the excellent inns; or if you 
prefer, you can have it served in some quaint look-out on the 
verge of a beetling precipice, with glorious scenery around 
you* Some of the concoctions are not tempting to the foreign 
palate; but there is delicious pickled cuttle-fish; and a kind 
of whelk — broiled in butter, in the shell, over a charcoal fire 
— is a delicacy which will please the most fastidious taste if 
prejudice can be overcome sufficiently to try it* The Bordeaux 
snails, so esteemed in Paris, are delicious when one musters 
up the courage to try them, but they cannot be compared with 
the Enoshima whelks* 

Down on the rocks below, the wrinkled veterans of the 
island earn a living by waylaying visitors to the Dragon's 



78 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Cave^ and inducing them to throw small coins into the water^ 
for which they dive and catch them as they slowly sink* They 
also dive for shell-fish^ and infallibly bring one up from the 
clear green depths* Noticing that every time a diver plunged 
in he first retired to the cave for a moment^ I became suspicious^ 
and^ stopping one old fellow^ just as he prepared to plunge^ 
found he had a crayfish concealed in his breech-clout* This 
exposure of the trick caused uproarious merriment* 

One day I resolved to play them a deception* I went down 
to the rocks to have a swim^ and a small crowd gathered round 
to watch me* The sea was ruffled by a breeze, so that one 
could not discern anything below the surface* Taking a long^ 
deep breath I dived in^ and^ swimming under water^ came 
up behind a rock about thirty feet away* I peeped over the 
top and saw the crowd peering down into the water* A minute 
went by and they became anxious* Two minutes passed^ and 
still I did not reappear* Then several of the divers plunged 
into the water^ and all were beside themselves with excitement^ 
believing me to be drowning* I allowed another minute to 
pass and then slipped quietly back into the water behind my 
sheltering rock^ and^ going deep down^ came up again^ puffing 
and blowings under their very eyes* They never suspected 
the truths and followed me back to the village telling every 
one about the feat* Months afterwards when a friend visited 
Enoshima it was related to him how a foreigner had^ one day, 
dived in and had stayed below ten minutes I — ^whereas I had 
not really been under water more than a minute altogether* 

The Dragon's Cave is not at all spectacular* It is nearly 
400 feet long, about 30 feet wide at the mouth, and narrows 
to but a yard or so at the end* A slender platform of plank 
and bamboo is fastened to the wall, along which to walk, and 
beneath it the waves surge in and demolish the staging alto- 
gether when the Storm-god rages and lashes the sea to fury* 
A few little shrines, before which the guide lights sputter- 
ing candles, are all that now do honour to the glory of the 
goddess Benten* 



CHAPTER VII 

MIYANOSHITA AND LAKE HAKONE 

There are few pleasanter spots in any land^ for those who love 
a ramble o^er hill and dale^ than the Hakone district of Japan* 
Its lovely woodlands and mountains^ ringing with the sound 
of rills and rivers^ cascades and waterfalls, make it a veritable 
paradise for a holiday* Of all places within easy reach of 
Yokohama, Miyanoshita, the chief village of the district, is 
the favourite week-end resort for foreign residents of the 
seaport* 

A journey of two hours from Yokohama on the Tokaido 
railway brings one to Kod^u, where a change is made for 
Yumoto into an electric car, on which '* parsons infected, 
introxicated, or lunatics will not be allowed, children without 
attender too,'* to quote one of the Company's Regulations 
as displayed in the cars* There is usually a wait for some ten 
or fifteen minutes before the car starts, and the proper way 
to fill this interval is to have tea at one of the near-by cha-ya* 
Whether you want to or not, you cannot help conforming to 
the custom, for buxom little country maids appropriate your 
Itiggage, see it on the car, procure your ticket, and look to it 
that everything is well, before you have hardly time to take 
your bearings; and long before these services have been 
rendered tea has been prepared for you* 

Midway between Kod^u and Yumoto is the ancient town 
of Odawara, and as the tram speeds for two miles through the 
straggling thoroughfare which is its main street, the whole 
household system and life of the inhabitants are revealed 
through the open doors and windows* The town, it is said, 
was the scene of constant strife in feudal days; in fact the 
whole country hereabouts teems with the most sanguinary 

79 



8o IN LOTUS-LAND 

historical associations* Yumoto is the terminus of the tram- 
line^ and from here to Miyanoshita a mountain road winds 
for four miles along the gorge of the Hayakawa^ the ^* Rapid 
River/' Rikisha-runners from the hotels are always here to 
meet the trams^ three or four of them being necessary 
for each vehicle^ as the road is very steep; but it is quite 
an easy tramp for a good walker^ and the scenery is lovely 
all the way* 

There is a pretty cascade near Yumoto^ where a hundred 
feathery streams gush out of the mountain-side^ and tumble 
in the sunlight like a shower of flashing gems from rock to 
rock* The Japanese^ who have poetical names for every 
beautiful feature of the land^ call it Tama-dare-no-taki, the 
^^ Waterfall of Falling Jewels*'^ The jewels drop into a 
limpid pool^ where monster gold carp la2;ily glide about in 
shoals^ or loaf in the shade of the stone bridges and over- 
hanging maple-trees* 

A little farther up the road^ the picturesque village of 
Tonosawa lies deep in the heart of the glen^ with noisy waters 
all around it^ for another torrent comes plunging along to join 
the parent river* There are hot sulphur-streams in the moun- 
tain overhanging the village; these have been tapped by 
tunnels^ and their waters piped to a do^en different hotels 
which are popular week-end resorts for residents of Tokyo 
and Yokohama* 

The scenery becomes finer at every turn as the road winds 
up the leafy mountain-side* Rocky cliffs give way to maple- 
woods^ and then to bamboo-groves^ whose graceful shoots 
lean outwards^ forming lovely canopies overhead* The Haya- 
kawa fills the valley with the murmur of its waters^ and down 
its banks and precipices many a streamlet tumbles and leaps 
into the gorge below* This road is lovely at every season of 
the year* In April ^*the cherry-trees are seas of bloom and 
soft perfume ''; sweet May then comes and makes the hillsides 
burn with red azaleas; in drowsy summer a myriad cicadas 
strive to hush the murmur of the river; autumn sets the forests 
ablaze with fiery glory; and ''when winter's hand spreads 




THE WATERFALL OF FALLING JEWELS AT YUMOTO 



MIYANOSHITA AND LAKE HAKONE 8i 

wide her hoary mantle o^er the land/^ they are more beautiful 
than ever^ for the feathery bamboos leaning across the road 
bow deeper stilly weighted down with the snow that lies on 
their slender branches* 

Miyanoshita^s one street is a ba2;aar of pretty things* It is 
the centre for the Japanese wood-mosaic work — ^known all 
over the world* Inlaid boxes^ and articles for every conceivable 
domestic use^ are here for sale^ all made out of the choicest and 
most beautifully-grained of woods^ at prices that are irresistible* 

The Fujiya Hotel stands at the head of this street* Here^ 
amidst the loveliest of scenery^ one lives in the lap of 
luxury and comfort* The table is of the choicest^ the service 
unsurpassed^ and the daintiest little maidens of Japan^ with 
soft white tabi on their feet^ tread silently to anticipate one's 
every wish^ or run to do one's bidding* 

But the baths! One almost lives in them! Hot volcanic 
water^ with just a trace of sulphur in it — enough to make it 
soft and soothing — ^is piped from the solfataras^ several miles 
higher up in the hills^ to huge tubs^ which one can enter any 
hour of the day or nighty and use the water as one pleases* 
But that is not all* At the back of the hotels out in the open 
air^ there is an immense swimming-bath^ from three to ten 
feet deep^ with spring-boards and diving-stages^ and hot and 
cold water laid on^ so that its temperature may be fitted to 
the season* 

With pleasure and appreciation I recall the courtesy and 
kindness always extended to me by the proprietress^ Madame 
Yamaguchi^ whilst staying at this hotel* No thought or 
attention was omitted to add to the enjoyment of my stay^ 
and many a picnic excursion we arranged to lovely places in 
the hills* With genuine enthusiasm the charming and accom- 
plished chatelaine of the house would sometimes even chaperon 
the pretty little waitresses to distant spots to pose and give a 
touch of beauty to my pictures* The Fujiya Hotel sets the 
standard of highest excellence in all the East* Comfortably 
housed at this hospitable place^ surrounded by every luxury 
in one of the fairest places of Japan — where the air is so 



83 IN LOTUS-LAND 

recuperative and invigorating that one is tempted to wander 
for endless miles over the hills — it is easy to understand why 
those who come here for days stay for weeks; whilst those 
who come for weeks^ extend the weeks into months, and then 
leave this enchanting spot with many regrets, and the firm 
resolve to return at the earliest opportunity* 

There is no end to the number of delightful places within 
less than a half-hour's walk from the hotel — Dogashima, a 
tiny village in a cool ravine with a cascade such as wood-nymphs 
love; Kiga, and the "'Gold-fish Tea-house/' with its pretty 
garden, and waterfall, and fountain, and golden carp; Jakotsu- 
gawa, the "* Stream of the Serpent''; Miyagino, a rustic 
village by the river-side, with a picturesque old mill and 
water-wheel; and a score of other little gems of beauty-spots* 
But, charming as are all these beauty-spots, the favourite 
excursion from Miyanoshita is to Lake Hakone* 

The road leads along the left bank of the Hayakawa for 
some distance, and thence strikes off up a steep pathway into 
the Ashinoyu mountains, through the village from which 
they derive their name* This is a bald, uninviting locality, 
but is famed far and wide for the curative properties of its 
sulphur springs* Native sufferers from skin diseases flock to 
the place in summer; whilst foreigners, afflicted with rheu- 
matism and kindred complaints, come here and spend pre- 
scribed hours of their time, immersed to the neck in the 
malodorous waters, which come hot from the bowels of the 
earth* One of the baths is so powerful that those who enter 
it have to do so inch by inch, so as not to agitate the water and 
free the fumes, which will quickly overpower the strongest* 
Even to smell a sponge soaked in the water will make a strong 
man faint, it is said* When any one enters the bath an attendant 
closely watches him whilst he is in it, and many a time it would 
have claimed a victim, had not the bather, when overcome, 
been taken out at once to the open air* Ashinoyu is 2800 
feet above the sea, and is always cool even in the hottest 
weeks of summer* 

From here to the lake it is a gradual downward slope through 



MIYANOSHITA AND LAKE HAKONE 83 

hills thickly covered with dwarf bamboo* On the way there 
are some famous carvings to be seen* The most interesting 
of these is an immense bas-relief^ cut in the face of a wall of 
rock^ of Ji^o^ the Buddhist god who watches over the souls 
of little children^ and to whom women about to become 
mothers offer up their prayers* 

The sentiment surrounding this deity is a very beautiful 
one* It is the popular belief that when children die they descend 
into purgatory^ and are compelled by a cruel witch to pile up 
into cairns the stones of the Sai-no-Kawara^ or ^* River-bed 
of Souls ^' — the Japanese Styx* This labour is unending^ for 
bands of angry demons^ called oni^ rise from the river and 
destroy the heaps^ and the terrified children would have to 
toil for ever rebuilding them^ were it not for the gentle^ com- 
passionate Ji2;o* He comes to their help, drives away their 
tormentors, and hides the little ones in the great sleeves of his 
kimono* Hence, those who pray to Ji2;o deposit a stone or two 
about the shrine, as thus they lighten the toil of their little 
ones who have passed away* 

This image is said to be the work of Kobd Daishi, a Buddhist 
saint who lived in the eighth century, and he is credited with 
having accomplished the feat in a single night* If K5bo Daishi 
did all that the Japanese say he did, he must certainly have 
executed this work in the time allotted; for otherwise, had 
his days exceeded those of Methuselah, he could scarcely 
have effected all the wonders for which the Japanese gave 
him credit* 

Having spent some years mining in western America, I did a 
little figuring on this achievement, and estimated that if two 
good Californian miners had worked, with the assistance of 
modern explosives, in blasting out the rock alone, without 
attempting any carving, they would have well earned good 
wages if they had completed the work in a week* 

Kob5 Daishi was a man of great attainments* His sym- 
pathies were many, and his talents manifold* He was the most 
famous of all Buddhist saints of Japan* He was a great traveller, 
and, amongst other endowments, excelled as a painter and 



84 IN LOTUS-LAND 

sculptor* His writing was of such beauty that the eyes were 
dazzled on beholding the characters^ and at the age of thirty- 
five he invented the syllabary of the land* To such great 
dexterity did he attain in the art of calligraphy that he was 
able to write equally well with five brushes at once^ one in 
either hand^ one in each foot^ whilst the fifth he held in his 
teeth* There was no medium upon which he was unable to 
record his handwritings and it is told that on one occasion he 
traced characters which thereupon appeared in the heavens^ 
and that at another time he wrote upon the flowing waters 
of a river* But even this was not the limit of his skilly for he 
would take a brush and shake it^ and the drops of ink^ as they 
fells became transformed into characters exceeding in beauty 
any hitherto seen* It is not strange^ therefore^ that his renown 
is great throughout the land^ and that he is the most deeply 
venerated of Buddhist saints* 

The road all the way from Miyanoshita^ like other mountain 
roads in Japan^ was well bestrewn with worn-out waraji^ the 
straw sandals which are the only footgear used in the hilly 
districts* They are very cheapo costing but two or three 
farthings a pair^ and will last an entire day* Even horses are 
shod with warajis specially made to fit their hoofs^ which would 
otherwise speedily become cracked and broken on these rough 
and stony paths* At every house we passed these useful 
articles were sold* 

There are three ways of making the journey to Hakone^ 
which is about six miles — on foot^ on horseback^ or in a 
yama-kagOs or mountain basket* The latter method is that 
by which all Japanese ladies, and many men, travel in 
mountain districts* 

The kago is a light bamboo litter, hung on a single pole, 
which is carried on the shoulders of two or more bearers* It 
is well adapted for native use, as the Japanese are accustomed 
from infancy to sit with their feet tucked under them* How 
comfortable European or American ladies can make themselves 
is largely a matter of personal temperament* I have only tried 
this method once, when disabled by a sprained ankle from 



MIYANOSHITA AND LAKE HAKONE 85 

walkings and I found it comfortable enough* If one be not 
prone to cramp, or pins-and-needles, or sea-sickness, it is an 
easy way of travelling, as the back is arranged at a convenient 
angle, and there are soft cushions to sit on* The motion is 
nauseating to many people, but the Japanese seem to find 
it soothing, for they generally go to sleep* The bearers 
are wonderfully sure-footed, and two can carry a Japanese 
lady all day, with occasional spells of rest and changes 
of shoulder* 

The lake bursts suddenly into view a short way past the 
]izo image, and the road zigzags down to it* A fine torii stands 
at the top of the steep, and Moto-Hakone is the name of the 
picturesque village by the lake* 

One Christmas Day as I reached this point the view was 
more than usually lovely* The bamboo thickets sparkled with 
hoar-frost crystals in the sunlight, and the lapis-la^uli lake lay 
snugly bosomed in mountains of gold — all yellow with the 
ripened kaia-grass* Beyond the rugged barrier range on the 
western side, the peerless Fuji-san, thickly shrouded with 
newly-fallen snow, raised its proud crest high into the heavens 
— **a stainless altar of the sun*^^ 

Hakone is the name of the mountain region comprising 
the entire southern portion of the province of Sagami* The 
lake is called Ashi-no-umi, the **Sea of Reeds,*' though why 
such a name was given is not easy to comprehend* Japanese 
names are usually most apposite, but in this case there seems 
to have been a misfit, for with the sole exception of a shal- 
low place at the northern end of the lake, where there are 
a few reeds, the shore descends abruptly into water many 
fathoms deep* 

The Emperor has a summer residence here on a peninsula* 
There is also a fine old stone torii by the waterside; a famous 
Shinto temple; an avenue of cryptomeria-trees, and everything 
is fairly cloaked with legend and mantled with historical 
memories* 

One day when I was strolling through the village, I pur- 
chased, at a little shop, a curious guide-book* It was a small 



86 IN LOTUS-LAND 

blue volume^ embellished with a golden outline of Fuji — a 
translation from a native work into English by a Japanese, 
Mr* C ]. Tsuchiya* I found the quaint language of the 
volume so interesting that I quote some of the author^s 
descriptions of this region by kind permission* 

Speaking of the beauties of the place, he says: ^* Owing 
to toilsome ascent many difficulties must be endured by 
travellers* The result of toleration is pleasure* There the 
Imperial Palace stands; Hakdne Gongen, a Shinto temple, 
adorns itself with perpetual unchanging dress of forest; the 
Ashi lake spreads the face of glowing glass reflected upside 
down the shadow of Fuji which is the highest, noblest and 
most glorious mountain in Japan; and the mineral hot springs 
warmly entertain the guests coming yearly to visit them during 
summer vacation* The purity of the air, the coolness of summer 
days, and the fine views of landscapes are agreeable to all 
visitors; for these facts, they do not know how is the summer 
heat and where is the epidemic prevailing**^ 

'* Whenever we visit the place, the first pleasure to be 
longed, is the view of Fuji mountain and its summit is covered 
with permanent undissolving snow, and its regular configura- 
tion hanging down the sky like an opened white fan, may 
be looked long at equal shape from several regions surrounding 
it* Every one who saw it has ever nothing but applause* It 
casts the shadow in a contrary direction on still glassy face of 
lake as I have just described* Buildings of Imperial Solitary 
Palace, scenery of Gongen, all are spontaneous pictures* Wind 
proper in quantity, suits to our boat to slip by sail, and moon- 
light shining on the sky shivers quart2y lustre over ripples of 
the lake* The cuckoo singing near by our Hotel plays on a 
harp, and the gulls flying about to and fro seek their food in 
the waves* All these panorama may be gathered only in 
this place**' 

Hakone was the scene of many fierce conflicts in feudal 
times* The latest battle is described thus: 

"'At May of the first year of Meiji, about thirty years ago 
from the present, two feudal and military chiefs engaged in 



MIYANOSHITA AND LAKE HAKONE 87 

battle on Hakone mountain* One of them was Okubo Kagano- 
Kami^ the Lord of Odawara-Han^ and the other was Shonosuke 
Hayashi^ Lord of Boshu; and the former belonged to Imperial 
Army and the latter was in Shogun's side* One time^ Hayashi 
staid at Numad2;u and held a good many soldiers* Leading 
them^ he passed Mishima and came to Hakdne* He requested 
to the guardsmen of Barrier Gate to let his army pass through 
it* At that time^ the guardianship of the gate was in the hand 
of Odawara-Han^ and the request was not permitted by its 
master Kagano-Kami* He durst to pass through it by military 
power* Then the battle was instigated^ and instantly guns 
were fired* All of dwellers of Hakone were so frightened that 
they fled out of their dwellings and hid into mountains or 
valleys* After short struggle^ the guardsmen could not conquer 
him^ and retired to Odawara to shut themselves up in the 
castle for its defence* Taking advantage of victory^ he advanced 
his army to destroy them* He missed unexpectedly his cogita- 
tion* He was defeated very badly^ and retired to Yumoto* 
Secondly^ he ran back to Hakone^ defeated by enemy* By 
violent pursuit of Imperial Army^ he was finally obliged to 
run to Ajiro about four miles south from Atami and thence 
to escape to his own previous dominion* Thenceforth^ the 
construction of perfect Imperial government by the revolution 
of Meijiy placed the nation out of impetuous struggles of 
Feudalism* And this ruin was remained to endless fancy**' 

The eight principal sights of Hakone are summed up in 
these words : 

I* ^*The snow-crowned view of Koma-ga-dake**' 

2* **The evening twilight of Toga-shima*'* 

3* ** The flowing lanterns on the waves of Ashi lake*"' 

4* **The wild geese flying down near Sanada-yama**' 

5* ''The moonlight shining on Kurakake-yama*'* 

6* ''The blossoms of azalea, or tsutsuji, flowering upon 
Byobu-yama*'' 



88 IN LOTUS-LAND 

7* **The ship putting firewoods into when the weather 



snows /^ 



8* ^'The wild ducks swimming about Kasumigaura in 
light-hearted manner/' 

**It was already described that all the mountain sceneries 
in Hakone are very agreeable to us^ but especially these eight 
sceneries may be picked out/' 

This is the style of the little volume from beginning to end* 

If the author's language be quaint and flowery^ let his 
readers bear in mind that he is trying to turn Japanese poetic 
thought into English prose* Though the sentences are high- 
flown^ it is yet remarkable how nearly every word secures the 
desired effect^ and leaves exactly the impression intended* 

Jikoku-toge^ the '*Ten Province Pass/' ten miles south of 
Miyanoshita and 2000 feet higher^ offers the widest prospect 
of any vantage-point in Hakone; the view is exceeded in 
grandeur only by that from Otome-toge — described in the 
chapter on Shoji* 

At the summit of the pass there is an enormous boulder^ 
called the '*Ten Province Stone/' because from it may be 
seen on clear days a panorama extending over no less than ten 
provinces of the Empire* '*Bays^ peninsulas^ islands^ mountain- 
ranges lie spread out in entrancing variety of form and colour/' 
says Murray's Handbook. It is indeed a magnificent scene^ 
with the great Fuji mounting high above all the other peaks 
— making them look quite unpretentious by comparison — 
and Sagami Bay^ a thousand yards below^ and but two miles 
away^ a lovely a2;ure contrast to the yellow autumn hills* 

The abrupt descent to the sea is fringed with bamboo 
thickets wherein are to be found little groups of time-stained 
granite gods; and magnificent camphor-trees^ the largest in 
Japan^ spread wide their twelve-hundred-year-old limbs in 
the grounds of Kinomiya temple at the foot of the steep* 

As we descended the mountain a cloud of steam shot sky- 
wards in the middle of the pretty town of Atami^ which nestles 
in the sunshine on the shore of a little artificial-looking bay* 



MIYANOSHITA AND LAKE HAKONE 89 

It was the geyser that has made Atami famous* Once every 
four hours it spurts^ and its salty steam is said to be so effica- 
cious for throat and lung complaints that the town is practically 
supported by those who come here to undergo the geyser cure* 
Atami has no sights* It is simply a little restful gem of a 
place^ which the hand of winter never touches; where plum- 
blossoms deck every nook and temple-ground whilst Tokyo 
is all a-wallow with icy slush; and where every hill-side that 
rises out of the sea is yellow with orange-groves* It is a little 
peaceful Eden where the sick come and find renewed health 
and strength^ as they loaf about in the warm^ sunny gardens 
during the winter^ whilst^ not twenty miles away^ the Tokaido 
may be white with snow* 



CHAPTER VIII 

SH5JI^ and the base of FUJI 

Only to see Shoji^ and the scenery at the sacred Fujiyama's 
base^ is worth the journey to far Japan* 

The little hotel by Lake Shdji in the province of Koshu^ 
on the north side of Fuji^ certainly suffers^ in the patronage 
it receives^ from being so far from the railway; and yet^ to 
those who have found this delightful retreat^ its isolation 
is one of its principal charms^ for the place has not yet 
become hackneyed* A hundred or so visitors^ who do not 
begrudge their sole leather^ find their way to Shdji annually^ 
and never one returned who was not full of praises for the 
scenery^ and enthusiasm for the plucky^ enterprising English- 
born subject of the Emperor who discovered the spot, and 
invested all he had in founding a hotel there* Thus he opened 
up one of the fairest districts of Japan, and made it accessible 
to that class of tourist who only travels where he can sleep 
each night in a foreign-style bed* 

To Hoshino San (the news of whose death, to my great 
regret, I received a few months before I wrote these lines) 
and his kind and clever little Japanese wife, I owed some of 
the pleasantest weeks I spent in Japan* 

The Shoji trip is usually extended into a journey round 
the entire base of Fuji — one of the most beautiful scenic tours 
in Japan* Lakes, forests, rivers, and waterfalls succeed each 
other in turn, and always there are new and bewitching vistas 
of the matchless mountain which dominates the background, 
each seeming even more beautiful than the preceding views* 

Though I have made this journey at each season of the 
year, I cannot say that at any one time it was more charming 
than at any other* Certainly nothing could exceed the beauty 

90 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 91 

of the scenery in the depths of winter^ when Yamanaka plain 
was two feet thick with snow^ and Shoji lake locked in the frigid 
embrace of the Frost King* As we tramped through the woods^ 
the sunlight, glinting through the frosted branches, studded 
every tree with a myriad sparkling gems, and our boots 
creaked and squeaked on the hard snow crystals that flashed 
like diamonds underfoot* Fuji was covered to the forest-line 
with a shroud of white, and the sharp, invigorating air made 
one glory in the possession of vigorous health and for the 
opportunity to enjoy this lovely face of Nature* The ice on 
Shoji lake — ^which is the only one of the five sheets of water 
at Fuji^s foot that freezes — ^was so hard, and clear, and smooth 
that only the sharpest skates could bite it; and we revelled in 
the finest of all exercises amidst scenery of such beauty as 
can well defy the world to excel it* Few people find their way 
so far from the well-worn paths in winter, except a few per- 
manent foreign residents of Yokohama who know the attrac- 
tions of the place, and hasten there every year as soon as the 
welcome news reaches them that '* Shoji is fro2;en*'' 

In summer the mountain is no longer white, being almost 
entirely snowless, but there are many pleasures to compensate 
for the absence of the beauty of the snow-cap* The woods 
are at their best, ringing with the song of the cicadas, and the 
air is soft and warm, yet bracing; whilst, to those who are 
fond of fresh-water swimming, Shoji is a paradise* 

Perhaps, if any months are more suitable than others to 
see the lakes. May, October, or November should be chosen* 
Then Fuji's crest is well covered with snow, and the woods 
are clothed in their fairest dress* 

There are three different places, accessible by rail, from 
which to reach Shdji* They are Kofu, O^uki, and Gotemba, 
but very few visitors go via either of the two former routes* 
Gotemba, the starting-place for the ascent of Fuji, is the most 
convenient of these three points, being on the Tokaido railway 
— the beaten track to all the principal towns from Tokyo* 
The trip, however, may be most delightfully combined with a 
visit to Miyanoshita, where English-speaking coolies can be 



92 IN LOTUS-LAND 

obtained^ for the modest sum of three shillings a day^ to 
conduct one the entire distance* These Miyanoshita coolies 
are the best in Japan* Their backs are broad and muscular, 
and with a load of fifty pounds strapped to their shoulders 
they will easily cover as much ground per day as a good walker* 

The way lies over Otome-toge, the '* Maiden's Pass/' up 
which there is a steep bridle-path of some three-quarters of 
a mile as a climax to a beautiful seven-mile walk* The pass is 
3333 feet high, and between it and Fuji there are twenty miles 
of space; yet in clear weather the great mountain seems, from 
this altitude, so tremendous and overwhelming as to be scarcely 
more than a league distant* No words can convey the grandeur 
of the scene as Otome-toge's summit is reached and this vast 
prospect of seemingly illimitable expanse abruptly opens out 
to the vision* During the entire walk from Miyanoshita the 
barrier range of Hakone is a natural wall that completely 
conceals the presence of the majestic mountain beyond* You 
toil slowly, and perhaps impatiently, up the zig-zag pony- 
path, that lies deep between the banks of yellow kaia-grass 
which rise high on either side, entirely blotting out every 
prospect for the last half-mile or more* This is one of the 
conceits that Nature loves* So that none of the effect she has 
arranged so carefully shall be lost, she takes cautious heed 
lest you should see aught else to claim your interest, and shuts 
out everything for a while before displaying this climax of her 
charms* Then suddenly she snatches the scales from your eyes 
and says, '' There T' and you are nearly dazed by the loveliness 
she reveals to you* 

To see Fuji for the first time like that must surely be one 
of the moments of one's life; those who can say that such 
was their experience are indeed to be envied : they will certainly 
never forget it* 

The miles of intervening space give the lower slopes an 
exquisite lilac tint, which merges ever so softly and gradually 
into the green of the velvet valley below, and as timidly gives 
way to the petals of the great snow-blossom that hang from 
the skies above* 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 93 

It is a glorious sights but one before which the art of man 
is powerless, for the scene is too vast and too far-reaching for 
him to reproduce it by any craft he knows* Six miles away, 
and a thousand yards below, a thin winding line, looking like 
a thread on the velvet, is the Tdkaido railway; and just beyond 
it, the little hamlet of Gotemba nestles snugly amidst the 
surrounding fields ♦ On a clear day it seems that one could 
almost toss a biscuit into the village, and one would vow that 
a stone set rolling from Fuji^s crest would never stop until it 
reached the valley floor — so cleverly does Nature delude us 
with the enchantment lent by distance* 

With the exhilaration of so much beauty to delight the 
eye, one's feet speed down the mountain-side as though shod 
with the winged sandals of Mercury, instead of waraji, and 
Gdtemba can easily be reached by any active walker well 
within the hour* 

The next eighteen miles is the least interesting part of the 
circuit of Fuji, though not by any means lacking in really fine 
scenic beauty* At Gotemba one can either charter saddle and 
pack-horses, or engage a basha, as I did — ^for a miniature tram 
system traverses the whole distance to Kami-Y5shida* A 
special express vehicle, to which all others must give way, 
can be engaged for a few yen* 

Subashiri, with its grey old temple, deep in a cedar-grove, 
was the only point of interest passed during the first hour, 
and through the straggling village the basha-man gaily drove 
the hide-bound abortion of a quadruped which passes for a 
horse in these parts, tooting incessant blasts on a horn to clear 
the way* The rickety vehicle creaked and rattled at every 
step, all its joints being loose, and it seemed a miracle that 
it could even hold together* 

Just beyond Subashiri the ascent of the hill called Kago- 
2;aka, or '* Basket Hill,'" begins* This is very steep, and is 
ascended by many twists and turns which remind one of the 
Mount Tamalpais Railway in California, or the line up which 
the tiny train climbs the Himalayan foothills to Darjeeling* 
This, and all the surrounding hills, are composed entirely of 



94 IN LOTUS-LAND 

ash from Fuji^ which is piled up in waves and hummocks^ in 
some cases many hundreds of feet deep^ over the underlying 
rock* We left the basha at the bottom of the zig-zag and walked 
up a deep guUy^ cut by the rains^ to the top^ thus saving the 
horse the labour of dragging the weight of myself and the 
coolies up three miles of incline* The gradients are skilfully 
engineered so that one horse can pull a tram full of people 
up quite easily^ but on the downward journey the cars run by 
gravity^ and the speed they get up is sometimes dangerously fast* 

On a subsequent occasion when coming down this place^ 
as the vehicle raced round one of the bends in the track at a 
speed of twenty miles an hour^ we found ourselves confronted 
by an upward-bound basha, not fifty yards away* The driver 
jammed the brake on, whilst the passengers on the upcoming 
car fled helter-skelter out of it, tumbling over one another as 
they did so* The other driver made frantic efforts to pull his 
horse off the track, but it would not budge, and for a moment 
or two it looked as if it must be crushed, as the track was single 
at this place* Fortunately the brake acted in time, and the car 
was brought to a standstill as the footboard gently touched 
the frightened horse*s forelegs* Our reckless driver looked 
very shamefaced under the tongue-lashing he received from 
my coolies and from the occupants of the other car who had 
made such an unceremonious exit to safety, and he finished 
the rest of the journey carefully enough* 

On the present trip, as we reached the summit and began 
the gravity run to Yamanaka, after taking out the horse and 
leaving it in charge of a boy to bring down more leisurely, the 
basha-man started on a wild career, rounding the bends at 
obviously dangerous speed* He took an acute outward curve 
at a truly startling rate, for if the vehicle had left the track it 
would have leapt into space* I opened the door to stop his 
madness, but before I could do so we were at another curve 
— fortunately an inner one — and the car jumped the rails and 
collided with the bank with such force that it was badly 
damaged* The undergear was not hurt, however, and we 
soon had it on the rails again, for it was very light; but I 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 95 

insisted on taking the remainder of the journey at a more 
reasonable pace until we got away from the curves* It is little 
wonder the rolling stock is in such a rickety condition if this 
is the treatment it has to submit to* 

Loudly tooting his horn^ to apprise the unwary of his 
approach^ the basha-man brought us without further mishap 
to Yamanaka* 

Mika-d2;uki-Kosui^ or '' Three-Days'-Moon Lake/' which 
lies north of the village^ cannot compare with any of the four 
lakes farther on for beauty* The whole district hereabouts is 
bleak and desolate; in fact it is one of the most inhospitable in 
Japan^ for the winds are almost constant and very trying^ and 
the climate in winter is exceedingly severe* The great Fuji^ 
the heart of which is but fifteen miles away to the south-west^ 
spreads its skirts to the very village^ and blocks out much of 
the winter sunlight* I have seen Yamanaka plain several feet 
thick with snow^ yet on the western side of the mountain^ a 
few days later^ it was so warm that children were playing in 
the sunny fields^ and it almost seemed like summer* 

The whole southern side of the lake is destitute of trees^ 
and the barren^ wind-swept wastes around it are such sterile 
ground that no crops can be successfully raised there* The 
peasantry of this district are hardy^ but extremely ugly* Only 
the fittest survive^ and those who reach maturity have all 
pretensions to looks withered out of them before they arrive 
at that state* 

As I went down to the lake to take a photography a curious 
mushroom-shaped cloud obscured the mountain-top* This 
effect is one that the Japanese greatly admire* They call 
it Fuji no Kasa^ or '* Fuji's umbrella/' and I was very 
pleased to be able to add this phase of the mountain to my 
series of its portraits* 

Changing into a fresh basha^ we continued the journey* 
Soon after leaving the town a little woman by the wayside 
hailed us^ but the driver shouted to her that this was a private 
car and that she could not enter it* She was obviously tired 
and disappointed^ so I told the coolies to make room for her 



96 IN LOTUS-LAND 

and get some of the baggage out of the way* She said she was 
very weary and had been hoping for the last hour that a basha 
would appear* She was dressed in her best^ neatly and prettily^ 
and told me she was going to Ydshida to sell some pieces of 
silk that she herself had woven* Undoing the furoshiki — a 
large handkerchief — in which she had the product of her skill, 
she asked me to accept a piece in return for the favour I had 
done her* Demur as I would, she would hear of no refusal, 
and fairly compelled me to accept a small square of beautifully- 
figured blue silk, for which she would not hear of accepting 
any payment* Nothing could have exceeded the grace of her 
manner when she bid me "'Sayonara''^ at our destination, 
nor the courtesy of the phrases in which she voiced her thanks; 
yet she was but a simple country-girl, and the balance of 
favour was all on her side, for the piece of silk was worth 
many times the small sum she would have had to pay for a 
basha fare in a public car* 

Yoshida^s one and only street is a mile or more in length* 
In the midst of it there is a fine old stone torii which makes a 
splendid foreground for Fuji, towering up beyond* On a 
subsequent tour of this district, when I visited the ancient 
village temple, I thought I had never seen so truly depressing 
a place* Save for the bright red torii at the entrance all was 
dismal indeed, for a dri2;2;ling rain was falling, and the tall 
cryptomerias, in the midst of which the rickety old temple 
stands, threw deep gloom over everything* Great drops falling 
from their branches splashed on to the row of mossy stone 
lanterns that stood below, and shivering crows, with ruffled 
feathers, sat above, emitting hoarse croaks and croupy caws* 

In the temple a priest was mumbling in sepulchral tones 
what sounded like a dirge, now and again punctuating the 
weary monotony of his recitation with a drum-tap, whilst 
swirling clouds of mist swept through the tree-tops and wound 
themselves about the temple like a shroud* The whole place 
seemed redolent of death and spirits of the past, and I was 
glad to leave it and get back to my room with its warm hibachi, 
^ Good-bye; literally: ** If it must he/* 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 97 

for the chill of the weather and the abject dreariness of the 
place sent cold shivers down my spine^ and set me wondering 
how any human beings could spend their lives in such a lonely, 
cheerless, ghostly spot and still retain their reason* 

Whilst I was dining on grilled eels and rice — a dish for 
which this place is noted, as the eels caught in the lakes are of 
a particularly delicate flavour — mine host entered, with many 
prostrations, and presented the register for my name, age, 
occupation, and other information such as the police require* 
An inspection of this volume indicated that these of&cials 
must be sorely puzzled at times to decide where truth ends 
and humbug begins* For instance, an American authoress, 
and a lady artist from San Francisco — both of whom I had 
met on a Pacific steamer — had described themselves as ^* ballet 
girls,'* aged sixty-seven and seventy-five respectively; and 
amongst the notabilities who had recently visited the district 
was ^* Abraham Lincoln,'* whilst another visitor, according 
to the book, was a veteran of 107 years* One brilliant wit had 
described his residence as "'a dog kennel,'* to which some 
other traveller had added the appropriate line, '* A very proper 
domicile for such a silly pup*" 

The landlord told me that such trifling with his register 
caused him serious trouble, and in the case of the two ladies 
mentioned, a police-officer had been sent all the way to Shoji 
to warn the hotel proprietor that "'questionable characters" 
were coming his way* When it is remembered that the object 
of these registers is that foreigners may be easily traced by 
the police in the event of any harm befalling them, such feeble 
apologies for humour as the above are unpardonable insults 
to a highly-civilised and gentle people* 

At six the next morning the beating of a drum in the near-by 
temple woke me* I threw off the thick, comfortable futons, 
and anxiously peered out at the weather through a tiny hole 
in the shutters* The sky was perfectly clear, the morning 
sunny, there was not a breath of wind, and the air was keen 
with a sharp frost which had coated everything with a thin 
film of white* Fuji was a poem of beauty in the morning light* 



98 IN LOTUS-LAND 

The crest^ thickly covered with snow^ gleamed against the 
cobalt sky^ and great snow streamers hung down to the moun- 
tain's waist, like pendent blooms of white wistaria* Just over 
the summit a thin line of stratus, which floated like a canopy 
in the otherwise cloudless heavens, was red with the reflec- 
tion of the roseate east, and the snow below it was dyed a 
delicate pink* 

The conditions were ideal for the tramp to Shoji, so pre- 
parations were hurriedly made, breakfast soon despatched, 
the coolies harnessed to their burdens, and we were under 
way* A sharp walk of forty-five minutes brought us to Kawa- 
guchi — the first of the four beautiful lakes which make the 
district lying at the northern base of Fuji the Westmorland 
of Japan* As we reached it we found its waters were so swollen 
that many of the low-lying houses of Funatsu, a village at the 
eastern end, were flooded half up to their roofs* 

On a rocky peninsula stood the inn and a little Shinto 
temple, both beautifully situated in a grove of pine-trees and 
surrounded by old stone lanterns* We chartered a sampan 
and were soon speeding over the limpid depths, past quaint 
promontories, and pretty bays, and islands all abla^je with 
autumn tints* 

Kawaguchi means "'River Mouth'" — a somewhat ill-fitting 
name, seeing that the lake has neither inlet nor outlet* It is 
four miles long, with an uninterrupted view of Fuji all the 
way, and it took us an hour and a quarter to reach the western 
end* We landed at the quaint village of Nagahama, where 
every path was bordered with streams of water, which raced 
down from the hills through troughs made of dug-out tree- 
trunks* Each house was an artist's study, with its heavily- 
thatched roof and walls completely covered with cobs of 
yellow corn, drying in the sun, and monster white radishes, 
half a yard long, called daikon, which are used for pickling* 
It looked as though the whole community were celebrating 
a harvest festival* 

A steep hill called Torii-zaka, covered with mulberry 
bushes, divides Kawaguchi from the next lake, Nishi-no-umi* 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 99 

We traversed this in twenty-five minutes^ passing a pretty 
little temple in a dense clump of cryptomerias on the way* 
From the top of Torii-2;aka — so called because formerly there 
was a stone torii at the summit — there is a fine panorama 
of the two lakes: Kawaguchi green as an emerald^ and Nishi- 
no-umi^ a deep sapphire blue* We walked the length of Nishi- 
no-umi^ though boats can be had if required* The path rises 
high above the lake^ and for three miles it passes through a 
real Arcadia* The woods hhzed with gold and scarlet^ and 
through the tracery of the silver birches^ whose leaves were 
all shimmering in the soft autumn air^ we could see the lake 
below^ flashing and scintillating in the sun* 

A high mountain on the south side of the lake concealed 
Fuji from view; but towards the end of the lake it gradually 
drops^ and first the snow-cap^ and then the streamers^ re- 
appeared; and^ finally^ as we emerged from the wood into 
Nemba village^ there was a superb picture across the lake, 
with Fuji almost filling the southern heavens* 

After leaving Nemba we plunged into another wood — one 
of the most beautiful I have seen in any part of Japan* We had 
just left Arcadia, and now we were in Fairyland itself* Beneath 
the birch and maple trees the ground was thickly overgrown 
with long, silvery moss, on which the sunbeams lingered 
caressingly* Pheasants were crowing in the underbrush, and 
at one place a startled wild boar ran across the glade* I could 
not help but stop and feast my eyes on the bewildering beauty 
of the place every few yards — ^much to the delight of my 
coolies, who chuckled with pleasure at my admiration — and it 
was late in the afternoon ere we reached the end of this 
enchanted wood and Lake Shoji came into view* 

We walked for half a mile along its shores, until we came 
to a spot where the coolies stopped and shouted loudly across 
the water* Soon there was an answering hail, and a boat 
appeared in the distance* Whilst waiting for it I could not 
resist the invitation of the lake, so, quickly stripping, I plunged 
deep into its clear, refreshing waters, and had a glorious 
swim — greatly to the amusement of my coolies* Then the 



100 IN LOTUS-LAND 

boat arrived^ and I found Hoshino himself was at the tiller* 
This was my first meeting with the man whom later I found 
such an excellent companion and local guide* 

Twenty minutes or so served to take us over the beautiful 
sheet of water to the peninsula of Unosaki^ on which the 
Shoji hotel stands* A winding path led up to the prettily- 
situated house^ and I was soon settled in a comfortable 
room^ then revelling in a stinging-hot bath^ and afterwards 
discussing an excellent dinner* 

From my bedroom window there was a lovely view of 
Fuji through the pine-trees; and as I looked out before re- 
tiring^ the moon was shining brilliantly over the mountain^ 
and the lake just below me was smooth as a sheet of glass* 

Several times since this^ my first visits I have been to 
Sh5ji^ and every hour I spent there was golden* Sh5ji is one 
of the fairest beauty-spots in a land which is one of the beauty 
spots of the earth* The lake is 3160 feet above sea-level^ and 
from the hotels which is situated on the southern side of a 
steep pine-clad promontory^ the vistas through the trees are 
exquisite* There is no place in Japan where one may better 
study the peerless Fuji^ for here one may recline in a com- 
fortable chair and view the sacred mountain at one^s leisure* 
Indeed^ it is possible to pay homage more idly stilly for all 
the guest-rooms are on the southern side of the house^ and 
one may lie abed^ and on moonlight nights and clear mornings 
Fuji is the last thing one sees before sleeping and the first 
on waking* The prospects are^ therefore^ favourable to dream 
of the sacred mountain^ and to dream of Fuji is^ to the Japanese 
mind^ a certain promise of luck to come* Should one^ how- 
ever^ dream of it on the first night of January^ prosperity and 
length of days are certain* 

The Japanese have a phrase about New Year dreams 
which runs thus: ^^Ichi Fuji; ni-taka; san nasubi/^ meanings 
^* First Fuji; secondly a falcon; thirdly an egg-plant*^^ These 
objects are the most lucky to dream of^ in the order named* 
Fuji comes firsts because it is the most beautiful natural feature 
of Japan^ and as such it is an emblem of all that is best in 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI loi 

everything* The falcon symbolises straightforwardness and 
honesty^ because it can ga2:e unflinchingly at the sun; it is 
also a token of clean livings as it never feeds on carrion^ but 
kills and devours its prey whilst the blood is warm* The egg- 
plant is considered a good omen because of its beautiful colour 
— the colour of an amethyst^ a stone which the Japanese 
greatly admire* 

In order to induce these lucky dreams the superstitious 
place pictures of the Gods of Luck under their pillows on 
New Year's Eve* It is^ therefore^ a common sight to see 
hawkers going round the towns on the last evenings of the 
year calling out^ **0 Takara^ O Takara^ O TakaraT' This 
means ** precious things/' and the pictures they sell always 
represent the seven gods in a boat filled with bags of rice^ 
jewels^ gold coins^ barrels of wine^ farmers' implements, 
and other good things, and objects emblematical of the 
earth's bounty* 

Though I did not have the good fortune to dream about 
Fuji, yet it was the last thing I saw before going to sleep, and 
the first as I opened my eyes the next morning, when the 
rising sun was tinting it with lovely harmonies of colour* 

Every hour of every clear day the mountain was a different 
picture* There was the Morning Fuji, shaking off the mists 
of night; the Midday Fuji, with a belt of cumulus cloud 
floating across its waist; the Sundown Fuji, a symphony of 
pink and violet; the Moonlight Fuji, hanging like an inverted 
white fan in the dark sky; and a hundred other phases* The 
snow-cap is ever changing and never has the same lower 
outline for more than two or three consecutive days* Wind 
and sun are constantly at war with it* Sometimes it lies almost 
in a straight line across the higher slopes; then, as the sun 
melts it, only the snow lying in the ravines, which straggle 
down the mountain-side, remains, forming the great streamers 
which^ from a distance, look like pendent white wistaria 
clusters* 

Curiously enough, though fuji is the Japanese word for 
wistaria, philologists tell us that the mountain does not derive 



I03 IN LOTUS-LAND 

its name from this resemblance: whilst the sound is the same, 
the written character is quite different* Authorities disagree 
as to why the mountain was so named, but the Rev* J* Bat- 
chelor, who is the leading authority on the Ainu aborigines, 
claims it is the name of the Ainu Goddess of Fire, and was 
given to the mountain when these people inhabited this part 
of Japan, and has ever since been retained* 

In winter Fuji is sometimes completely covered with snow, 
but, lovely as it then is, it is lovelier still when only the upper 
slopes are white* Then you see the phase that the Japanese 
worship — the effect that makes this mountain the most beau- 
tiful in the world* Having seen Fuji under almost every 
conceivable aspect, and many other famous mountains of the 
world also, I know well that all who have seen it under as 
many conditions will unhesitatingly endorse the claim* There 
is much about Fuji that cannot be put into words* The subtle 
charm of its almost perfect symmetry and delicate colouring 
defy the efforts of the finest artists* I have never seen any 
painting that did the mountain justice* 

However, one does not go to Shoji simply to see Fuji; 
the lake itself can well hold its own with the most celebrated 
scenic beauties of Japan* Except on the south, the lake is 
hemmed in by hills clothed in forest* Nature seems inten- 
tionally to have left the south side open so that the entire 
sweep of the mountain could be seen, down to the spreading 
skirts which dip into Shoji's waters* That side of the lake is 
a vast lava-bed, formed by the great streams of molten rock 
which once descended from Fuji^s crater, and flowed until 
they were arrested by a natural mountain barrier, against 
which they banked up, walling in great hollows which in time 
filled with water* Thus the lakes were formed* 

Popular belief holds that they are all connected with each 
other by subterranean watercourses* The fact, however, that 
they all lie at varying altitudes would seem to dispose of 
this theory effectually, as the water in the different basins 
rises and falls concurrently* This would not be the case were 
they connected; the lowest lake would be always full at the 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 103 

expense of the others* The shrinkage in dry weather is mainly 
due to the natural processes of evaporation and absorption, 
which is the cause of the constantly changing water-line* 

The Shoji lava moor is covered with stunted trees, and 
there are sights there which are among the wonders of Japan* 
At the base of Maruyama, a pine-covered mountain midway 
between the lake and the lower slopes of Fuji, there are some 
caves which are well worth visiting* After a severe winter 
enormous icicles hang from the roof to meet the frozen stalag- 
mites which rise from the floor of ice below, and, meeting 
them, form into glistening crystal pillars* 

One of these caves is like a stage representation of some 
fairy cavern, and as I made my way, by the light of a flaming 
torch, under the hanging clusters and among the icy columns, 
the flickering light cast trembling shadows everywhere, and 
turned the fro2;en pillars into jewelled shafts sparkling with 
every colour, whilst myriads of crystals glittered on the frosted 
walls* It was all bewilderingly beautiful, and as I crept about, 
cautiously and quietly — ^for fear of inviting one of the great 
frozen spears to fall upon me — in this wondrous underground 
treasure-chamber, I felt like Aladdin in the genie's cave, and 
half expected to find great chests of gems lying open, from 
which I might help myself and live in luxury ever afterwards* 

Perhaps the loveliest hour of the day at Sh5ji is just before 
the sun disappears behind the hills* Then Fuji is likely to be 
in complaisant humour and to display its charms without 
reserve* The breeze, too, often dies away at this hour, and 
the waters of the lake then become Fuji's looking-glass, and 
the mountain seems to lean over the edge of the mirror, 
enamoured of its own reflection* 

This charming place has yet another attraction* The 
bathing is of the best* There are spring-boards, diving-stages, 
and every convenience for the enjoyment of the swimmer, 
and one may plunge headlong into deep, crystal-clear water, 
and swim to one's heart's content amidst some of the loveliest 
scenery in Japan* 

I might devote pages to the pleasure of shooting in this 



I04 IN LOTUS-LAND 

neighbourhood — for there are wild duck on the lake^ and 
pheasants and wild boars in the forests — but I must hurry 
on^ for whilst Shoji is the base from which to work this 
district, there is an even fairer sheet of water but five miles 
away* 

Though I have visited Lake Motosu at least a score of 
times, as many more would not serve to cool my ardour for 
its beauty. It is the pearl of Japanese lakes, and challenges 
comparison with the fairest waters of the world. 

There are two ways of reaching it from Shoji — ^by a path 
which traverses My5jin-yama, a mountain looo feet higher 
than the lake and on the western side of it; or by a lower road. 
The former is the finer route, as the views are truly superb, 
and as one ascends higher and higher, Fuji seems to become 
higher too. 

This path, which 2;ig2;ags by easy grades up the mountain, 
was made under Hoshino^s personal direction. He never 
wearied of improving the property he owned, nor of adding 
to it as he could afford. He therefore bought a large tract of 
the mountain-side in order to make this path, which enables 
visitors to gain the summit with ease, and enjoy the lovely 
panorama that lies map-like at their feet. 

It is almost idle to attempt any description of this view. 
As one slowly ascends, the prospect opens out, and grows 
ever more beautiful, until a spot is reached, by a short detour 
from the path, the view from which is so entrancing that 
language fails to describe the scene. Often, as I have stood 
there, I have thought how empty must be the soul of, and how 
poor a thing the precious gift of sight to him who can ga^e 
on such a prospect without a thrill of rapture or a touch 
of feeling. 

What the Gornergrat is to Switzerland, what Le Brevant 
is to France, what Darjeeling is to India, what Yosemite Point 
is to California — ^so is Myojin-yama to Japan. 

When first I saw this glorious prospect, the sudden revela- 
tion of so much beauty held me completely spellboimd, and 
entirely speechless. Such moments in a traveller's life are for 




APPROACHING STORM ON LAKE MOTOSU 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 105 

greater things than speech: for thoughts^ not words — and 
perhaps for a silent supplication to one's Maker, 

Before me, seeming to touch the arch of heaven^ was Fuji, 
in all the glory of its very loveliest aspect, the upper slopes 
all shrouded in white, and with a belt of cloud floating across 
its waist, below which the forest-clad slopes were softly lilac 
tinted by the ha2;e. To the left, and far below, lay the un- 
ruffled emerald waters of Shoji lake, reflecting the unbroken 
image of the sky, and holding up the mirror to the lovely face 
of Nature that smiled around it. To the right Motosu lake 
was of that brilliant blue which one sees in mid-Pacific* It 
was a sapphire set with gold and rubies, for the bordering 
woods were all ablate with autumn tints* Away to the north 
and west, range beyond range of mountains were piled up in 
the wildest confusion, and, back of all, the snow-capped giants 
of Koshu and Shinshu seemed to brush the sky* 

When I had absorbed the scene for a while, I turned to 
Hoshino* His face was beaming, for. Nature-worshipper as 
he was, there was nothing that pleased him more than to see 
others appreciate what he himself so dearly loved* 

'*I thought that would stagger youT' he said; ^*Now let 
us have some lunch**' 

The coolies had preceded us and had lit a fire, so that 
lunch was already prepared* And what a lunch! At the Shoji 
hotel they never did such things by halves in Hoshino's day* 
He knew with what feelings the view would inspire me, and 
he knew, too, how the inner man would be stimulated by the 
exercise and invigorating air* He was not going to let my 
enjoyment be half-hearted, and his wife, who always packed 
the lunch-basket, knew well what to provide* There were 
sardines, with tomato and cucumber salad, cold chicken and 
pheasant, slices of York ham, and a pot of stew that was soon 
steaming hot* Then there were mince-pies, bread and cheese, 
and fruit, with a bottle of wine in which to drink the thoughtful 
little Okusan's health* 

This was Hoshino's idea of a lunch whenever I went off 
for a day in the hills, and who will not admit that enjoyment 



io6 IN LOTUS-LAND 

of even the most glorious of Nature^s works may be aug- 
mented by an excellent meaK 

After a rest we went down by a winding track to the bridle- 
path which skirts Motosu lake^ a few hundred feet above it^ 
and we followed this until we came to Nakano-kura-toge, a 
mountain ridge at the western end* The view from this place 
was superb* The great Fuji was all white and lilac^ with deep 
green pine-clad skirts that swept in one magnificent curve 
into the liquid sapphire of the lake^ around which the woods 
were mellow with the soft colours of a Persian carpet* Snow- 
white billows floated in the heavens^ and silvery kaia-grass^ 
nodding to the breezes^ made a foreground for one of the most 
lovely landscapes I know in any land* 

Motosu lake was always wondrously beautiful* When the 
sun shone brightly^ and there was no wind^ its waters were 
no longer sapphire^ but the blue of a deeply-coloured turquoise* 
They changed with every cloud that swept over them* Some- 
times they were shot with purple^ and where the wind ruffled 
them and the light caught the ripples^ they became streaked 
with grey; then a^ure patches would flit across them^ and 
under the shadowing hills they were a bluish green* After 
sundown^ when the heavens began to glow and Fuji^s snows 
were pink, the lake would become opalescent as mother-o'- 
pearl, and, as darkness gathered, and the burning colours 
slowly faded away, the waters became chill and grey as steel, 
and finally blacker than the night* 

The encircling hills, too, were changeable as the jewel 
they embosomed* One minute a mountain-top would be dark, 
gloomy and forbidding; then, as the heavy cloud which had 
obscured the light floated from the peak, it would become all 
golden in the sunshine* On lake and mountain alike the sun 
was always playing beautiful pranks* Sometimes it would 
find a tiny hole in a sombre vapoury billow, and, shooting a 
searchlight ray through it, would single out some mountain- 
crest and make it gleam like a gilded dome; or, discovering 
some beautiful spot of colour in the woods, would set it all aglow* 

Many happy days I spent with my camera in this lovely 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 107 

spot; but not until three years later^ and after I had tramped 
the fourteen miles to Nakano-kura-toge and back more than a 
do^en times^ and waited patiently for many an hour^ was I 
able to take the photograph of "'Fuji and the Kaia Grass/' 
Sometimes^ when the mountain was clear^ there would be 
too much wind^ and the grass was blown about so violently 
as to render the making of the desired picture impossible* 
And sometimes the grass would be stilly but Fuji obscured by 
clouds* At last^ however^ the long awaited moment really 
came* The mountain was clear; for a few brief seconds the 
grass was stilly and during them I secured the coveted picture 
— ^which depicts the mountain in early winter* 

The days flew swiftly by at Shoji^ and my visits always 
came to an end far too soon* Then the coolies would be 
harnessed up again (it always took four of them to carry my 
photographic kit and luggage^ and there was but a small basket 
of the latter)^ and we would start off to complete the circuit 
of the sacred mountain* There are two ways by which this 
can be done — via the waterfalls of Kamiide^ or by way of the 
Fuji river* Nearly every one chooses the latter route^ as it 
offers the most novelty* 

The Kamiide route is^ however^ a very fine one^ as the 
Shira-ito-no-taki^ or '* White-Thread Waterfalls/' are ex- 
ceedingly beautiful^ and without rival in Japan^ for even 
Nikko^ with all its lovely cascades^ has nothing like them* 

After leaving Motosu village and traversing a moor for a 
do^en miles or so^ one comes to some pretty bamboo groves, 
in which there are many holes in the earth from which great 
streams of water gush forth with a roaring sound* The water 
is crystal-clear, but of a deep blue tint, like the colour of 
Motosu lake* There is little doubt that these holes are the 
mouths of a subterranean channel from the lake* The streams 
unite and join the Shiba-kawa, a river which plunges over a 
precipice, forming the O-taki, or '* Great Waterfall ** of Kamiide* 

The '* White-Thread Falls'' are, however, a much finer 
sight* They are composed of a thousand tiny streams which, 
percolating through the loose volcanic detritus above the lava 



io8 IN LOTUS-LAND 

bed, gush out of the face of a cliffy two hundred yards or 
more in lengthy and fall in delicate parallel jets that break 
into mist on the rocks below* This water curtain makes a 
pretty foreground for Fuji^ which towers grandly above in 
the distance* 

One of the wonders of Kamiide is an ancient cherry-tree 
— the finest in Japan — ^which is said to have been planted by 
the first Shogun^ Yoritomo^ over seven hundred years ago* 
Its venerable trunk is ten feet in diameter, whilst its branches, 
supported by many props, extend outwards for fifteen yards 
all around it* 

To complete the circuit of Fuji via the Fuji-kawa, one 
proceeds by the path that skirts Lake Motosu and crosses 
Nakano-kura-toge; then for the next twelve miles every turning 
opens out some pretty scene* The path drops tortuously by 
the side of a limpid rivulet, which dances its way, all sparkling, 
over gravel and boulder, and under lurid maples and spiky 
pines, and past persimmon-trees, whose leafless branches in 
autumn bend low with the harvest of golden ripening fruit 
they bear* A hundred cascades leap down the mountain-side, 
through gorgeously-tinted woods, helping to swell the stream 
which murmurs so merrily on its way to join the great Fuji 
river; and many a water-wheel squeaks and groans over 
its task of grinding the yellow corn, which, with rows and 
festoons of monster radishes, is drying on every fence and on 
the walls of every cottage* This lovely walk is one to delight 
the soul of the artist and the lover of Nature* 

The way must have been an ill-omened one, however, 
in the old days, judging by the great number of stone gods 
one sees* These are carved on stone slabs, and are images of 
Do-sojin, the protector of wayfarers* Prayers offered up to 
these images are said to be a certain safeguard against harm* 
I inquired if the ever-busy saint Kobd Daishi carved these* 
To my surprise I was informed that he did not* He was 
probably taking ''a day off'' from the strenuous labours of 
his lifetime! 

The way then lay through the village of Kawauchi-Furuseki 




FUJI AND THE SHIRA-ITO WATERFALL 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 109 

— one of the cleanest, prettiest, and neatest I have seen in 
Japan, where every house was full of rustic charm — and then 
twisted and turned upwards again, amid scenes of ever-changing 
beauty, and finally dropped in a long slope till it reached 
Tambara on the Fuji-kawa, about eighteen miles from Shoji* 
We arrived at dusk, but, as there was no good inn, we took a 
boat half a mile down the river to the little town of Yokaichiba, 
where there is a most excellent Japanese hoteL 

At eight o^clock the next morning we started by boat down 
the river^ A galaxy of laughing little neisans came to see us off 
— each insisting on carrying some small portion of the baggage 
— ^and as we pushed off into the current their voices rang out 
in a chorus of sweet sayonaras* They formed a pretty picture 
as they stood on the shingly bank, waving their hands to us 
till we were out of sight, with the quaint houses of Yokaichiba 
behind them, and the rugged forest-clad mountains towering 
high in the background* 

The boat was about forty feet long, six feet wide, and 
a yard deep* It was braced by three thwarts, and had a high, 
pointed, overhanging prow* The crew consisted of three 
rowers, with short oars; a pilot, who stood in the bow with 
a pole, and a helmsman, who took up his position on the after 
thwart and steered with a long sweep* The bottom of the boat 
was flat, and so pliant that the planks undulated from stem to 
stern whenever we got into choppy water* It was heavily 
ballasted with charcoal, which served the purpose of giving 
the light craft a good bite on the water, instead of letting the 
swift current slip beneath it* The charcoal also served to keep 
our feet clear of the water that leaked and splashed in con- 
tinually* It was done up in neat packages, bound with straw, 
and was distributed about the boat so as not to interfere with 
the rowers, who stood up to their work* Thus we started on 
the forty-five mile journey to Iwabuchi* 

The charge for the boat was eight yen (sixteen shillings)* 
This included the wages of the five men* As it takes three days 
for these men to tow the boat up again, in addition to the half- 
day spent in going down stream, the net earnings of each man 



no IN LOTUS-LAND 

per day^ allowing half a day for rest^ were less than tenpence 
(exclusive of the small freight charge which is made on the 
charcoal) ♦ The boats can only be returned empty^ and thus 
the men earn nothing on the return journey* 

The amount of excitement to be had from the trip down 
the rapids is governed entirely by the height of the water ♦ 
On the occasion here described^ the water was not far below 
the point at which the men decline to take a boat down* In a 
few hours^ however^ the water may drop several feet^ as the 
Fuji-kawa is subject to very sudden freshets^ which subside 
as quickly as they gather^ and when the water is quite low from 
start to finish there is not a single thrilL The river-bed in 
many places is fully 400 yards wide^ but the stream seldom 
occupies more than a small portion of this course; only during 
periods of most exceptional floods does the water rise to fill 
the full breadth of the channel* 

Shortly after leaving Yokaichiba we passed the village of 
Itome^ where the Haya-kawa comes rushing down from the 
Koshu mountains to join the parent stream* The river^ narrow- 
ing here^ becomes much swifter^ and sweeps by a most re- 
markable cliff called Byobu-iwa^ or "' Screen Rock^*^ composed 
of great andesite columns dipping into the river at an angle 
of 45°. 

At 8*30 we passed the first real rapid^ but it was only a 
short one^ and we slipped down it at a speed of about fourteen 
miles an hour* Half an hour later we arrived at Haku^ not far 
from the great Buddhist temple of Minobu^ where the bones 
of Saint Nichiren are buried* The scenery was now of great 
beauty* The fertile hills were terraced^ and all the lower 
ground was covered with mulberry bushes — for this is a 
famous district for silk culture* Lofty cliffs towered skywards 
on the left bank^ and a minute after leaving Haku the boat 
rushed headlong for the base of a precipice^ against which the 
waters were banked a yard high^ as the river made a plunge 
towards it and was angrily repulsed round a sharp curve* 
This is one of the few places where the rapids are really 
thrilling* The pilot sharply struck his pole against the gunwale^ 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI iii 

to attract the attention of the deity who presided over the 
destinies of the boat; but for a moment it seemed that the 
god was unmindful^ and that we must inevitably strike and be 
dashed to pieces. The watchful guardian^ however^ took 
heed at the critical instant^ and the boat^ rising on the bank 
of water^ was swept round the curve with a mere touch of 
the pilot's pole to swing the high prow clear* 

The next hour was steady goings with the current somewhat 
sluggish. On both sides of the river the rugged mountains 
were gorgeous with autumn colours^ and at the base of the 
wondrously-terraced foot-hills picturesque villages beaded the 
banks at every mile. The rhythmic swaying of the standing 
rowers^ whose blades dipped regularly into the water^ grew 
faster and faster^ and^ perchance inspired by the beauty of 
the scenery, they broke into a chant, in which the pilot and 
steersman joined. 

Then the river divided. Taking the left channel, which 
was swifter than a mill-race, we shot down it at exhilarating 
speed. At the confluence of the two channels the water was 
broken into great waves. Here, notwithstanding the efforts 
of the men, the boat got broadside to the stream, and was 
swayed over till the gunwale was almost level with the water. 
The heavy load of charcoal ballast served us well here, and 
kept us from being swamped. Our skilful boatmen quickly had 
the craft in hand again and then pulled in to the left bank to 
visit the famous Tsuri-bashi, or ^'Hanging Bridge,"' which is 
suspended over a swift tributary that foams to join the Fuji 
river between precipitous walls. To cross this bridge — ^which 
is sixty yards long, and made of narrow strips of planking laid 
across eighteen parallel wires, with a narrow board pathway 
in the middle — is an undertaking which he whose nerves are 
at all unsteady will be well-advised to attempt warily. As 
soon as you set foot on it, it begins to shake, and as you proceed, 
the spring of the bridge causes the floor to seem to rise knee- 
high at every step. I once saw a visitor get to the middle and 
become so terror-stricken that he could neither proceed nor 
retreat, so he lay down, until one of the boatmen went to his 



112 IN LOTUS-LAND 

assistance* There is a trick about it that requires a little 
learnings but with perseverance one can master the motion 
so as to be able to run across* 

A most bi2;arre feature of the landscape here is a modern 
factory^ where timber from the hills is pounded into pulp for 
the manufacture of paper* This factory supplies most of the 
newspapers in Japan^ but fine-quality papers are manufactured 
here also^ for the mill ranks with the Oji works in Tokyo as 
a producer of the best paper made in Japan* 

After a short stop we pushed off again, and soon a grand 
scene opened out with Fuji on our left, and the pointed peaks 
of Ashitaka-yama straight ahead of us* We passed many boats 
being towed laboriously upstream* The trackers were shod 
with waraji of a kind peculiar to this river* They were not 
more than three inches long, and were fastened only to the 
forepad of the foot, as only the toes need this protection; the 
body, straining on the ropes, is thrown forward at such an 
angle that the heel never touches the ground* The work of 
towing the boats up-stream is most arduous, and if ever 
labourers earned the price of their hire these Fuji-kawa 
boatmen are surely they* 

There were many curious fish-traps in the river* They 
were set in artificially dammed-up narrows, and consisted of 
long, conical, bamboo baskets tied to poles* The fish, bound 
down-stream, rush headlong into these traps, and being unable 
to return, or even turn round, are speedily drowned — ^for it 
is but a matter of a few minutes to drown a fish held head 
downwards to a swift current* 

Rapid then succeeded rapid in quick succession, and many 
a time the pilot had to use his pole to ward us off the threaten- 
ing precipices, as we swept past them with the water swirling 
and foaming all around us* Near the village of Matsuno the 
cliffs on the right bank were a palisade of tall, hexagonal 
basaltic columns standing perfectly upright, and regular in 
formation as a paling* The river then rippled quietly along, 
with Fuji now always in view, till we entered the mouth of 
the Iwabuchi canal, and came to rest in the heart of the town 



SHOJI, AND THE BASE OF FUJI 113 

at one o'clock — the forty-five mile journey having taken just 
five hours* 

We walked to Su2;ukawa along the Tokaido — the old post- 
road that in feudal times connected the Mikado's capital^ 
Kyoto^ with the Shogun's capital^ Yedo> This is an excellent 
part of the ** beaten track'' to study rural Japan^ as small 
villages line the way and everything is picturesque* Outside 
the cottages the peasants were busily heading rice, or winnow- 
ing it by hand, using half the highway to spread the mats on 
which the grain is dried* 

The Tdkaido must have been a beautiful road in the days 
of Daimyos' caravans; but with the advent of the locomotive 
it fell into desuetude as the main business artery of Japan, 
and, in the thirst for modern ideas, fine old pine-trees in the 
avenue that once lined its entire length were ruthlessly cut 
down, ugly telegraph poles taking their place* But the Tokaido 
still remains, in places, just as it was in the old days, and near 
Suzukawa one can see it at its best* Hokusai and HGroshige 
made all its sights famous, and even to-day one can see many 
of the quaint characters, that Hokusai so dearly loved, plodding 
along, attired just as they were in the days of the great Japanese 
Cruikshank* 

On a summer afternoon, when the cicadas are droning, 
and the crows cawing in the trees, it is easy to fall into a reverie, 
as one sits on the grass by the wayside, and conjure up the 
days of Hiroshige's '* Hundred Views," for here are the very 
places, and passing you are the very people, that he painted* 
And there is lovely Fuji too, and one can almost imagine a 
Daimyo's cortege, with the feudal chief ga^ng enraptured at 
the mountain from the window of his norimono, as it is carried 
by on the shoulders of many bearers — ^just as one of Hokusai's 
woodcuts depicted such an incident* 

But reveries are apt to be of short duration, for suddenly 
there comes a piercing whistle, and then a roar, as a railway- 
train rushes past, not a hundred yards away, and one is brought 
back with a shock from feudal times to the unpicturesque 
realities of twentieth-century days* 



114 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Late in the afternoon^ when I had seen everything settled 
at the Su2;uki inn (which is one of the most extortionate in 
Japan)^ I strolled along until I came to the banks of a river 
from which there was a magnificent view of the sacred mountain* 

The setting sun made the waters gleam like molten gold^ 
and in the glowing depths Fuji^s inverted cone appeared as 
in a mirror* The sun sank below the horizon as I watched^ 
and soon all around me was enveloped in the gloom of ap- 
proaching night* But Fuji still stood out clearly as ever^ and I 
observed the beautiful phenomenon of the shadow of the earth 
creeping gradually up the mountain-slopes as the sun sank 
ever deeper below the horizon* Higher and higher it crept, 
until only the snowy crest was left to hold for a few brief 
moments the amber light; then, as the shadow left the 
sacred peak, the sun's rays fell on nothing but the heavens 
above, slowly tinting them with all the colours of the shells 
of Enoshima* 



CHAPTER IX 

AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 

From the earliest ages Japanese writers have described the 
beauty of Mount Fuji^ and poets have sung its charms* The 
old landscape painters were so enthralled by the ethereality 
of the sacred peak that they painted it from almost every 
conceivable point — ^and some inconceivable points^ too — 
along its southern base* When nearly eighty years of age^ 
Hokusai^ that great immortaliser of the peasant life and character 
of his day^ published a series of no less than a hundred wood- 
cuts of views of Fuji in colour^ from as many different places 
on the Tdkaido^ and with as many distinctive foregrounds* 
Hiroshige did the same^ and every other artist in the land^ 
famous or infamous^ has at some time or other been elevated 
with the desire to portray one or more of the transitory 
phases of the matchless peak under the spell of which all 
have fallen^ but which none has ever been able to delineate 
with justice* 

Other mountains may be painted with some degree of 
truth — even the beautiful Jungfrau* But not so Fuji-san* Its 
loveliness is so delicate^ and its moods so ever-changing and 
so evanescent^ that the most the artist can ever hope to accom- 
plish is to give some idea of the mountain's charm at a parti- 
cular moment* Every Nature-worshipper visiting Japan has 
fallen in adoration at the foot of Fuji^ and foreign writers and 
poets have emulated the Japanese in attempting to describe 
the beauty that has inspired them* Who^ that has seen its 
snow-clad crest floating in the deep blue of the winter sky^ 
will not admit that the mountain is worthy of all the praise 
that has been bestowed upon it — and more^* 

It is not only that the physical charms of the mountain 

I 115 



ii6 IN LOTUS-LAND 

cast so powerful a spell — though they alone would make of 
Fuji an object of homage to any lover of the beautiful from 
any land on earth — but also that the web of history and legend 
spun round the snowy peak is as charming and full of tragedy^ 
mystery and sentiment as the moods of the beauty are capri- 
cious and fitful — a combination that marks Fuji as unique 
among the mountains of the earth* 

Fuji is a dormant volcano^ an isolated cone 12,365 feet 
in height — figures easy to remember if one thinks of the months 
and days that make a year — tapering from a circumference 
of over eighty miles at its base to but two and a half miles at 
the summit* It cannot be accounted extinct, for at the north- 
east side of the mountain-crest the ground is so hot in places 
that in cold weather steam may be seen rising from the ash, 
testifying to the presence of fissures leading to subterranean 
fires which may at any time burst forth again* Geology shows 
that Fuji is but a young volcano which has not yet destroyed 
its beauty by bursting its crater rim* Up to the present time 
the only sign of degradation in Fuji's shape is a small hump 
on the south-eastern slope* This is the crater Hoei-2;an; it 
opened up during the last eruption, which began in December, 
1707, and lasted until 22nd January, 1708* 

That was over two hundred years ago; and by most writers 
Fuji is now referred to as extinct* But what are two hundred 
years in the life of a volcano $* What are two centuries in the 
cooling of the crust of the earths In the story of a planet such 
an interval is but a passing moment* Vesuvius was dormant 
for a much longer period before it laid Herculaneum and 
Pompeii in ashes* Indeed, prior to the great cataclysm of a*d* 
79 Vesuvius was regarded as an entirely harmless volcano, 
and was never looked upon by the inhabitants of the cities at 
its base, even to the last moments ere it spread destruction 
all around it, as the menace that it ever is to the Naples of 
to-day* In Japan — this land of hot-springs, earthquakes, and 
solfataras — who, with the terrible calamity which destroyed 
the sleeping Bandai-san in 1888 still fresh in memory, 
will make so bold as to deny that all volcanoes should be 



1 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 117 

dreaded^ The great Fuji^ peaceful as it looks^ should yet 
be viewed with apprehension* The beauty is not dead^ but 
merely slumbers ♦ 

Students of history may see^ in some of the lurid winter 
sunsets that dye the snows of Fuji crimson^ a reflex of the 
tragedies in which the mountain has played a part — for on one 
occasion at least the sacred slopes have been steeped in human 
blood* Towards the end of the thirteenth century the Mongol 
Emperor^ Kublai Khan^ despatched a great fleets manned by 
150,000 men, to Japan, for the purpose of conquering the 
country and adding it to his own dominions* This undertaking 
was a disastrous failure; for the Japanese, aided by the fury 
of the elements, scattered the invading hosts and ships, and 
many hundreds of the Mongol soldiers were beheaded on the 
southern side of Fuji* 

Thus, alike for the fabric of historical associations and 
legends with which it is enveloped, and for its symmetry and 
beauty, does Fuji inspire and appeal to the Japanese — most 
3esthetic and imaginative of peoples — and thus it is that the 
peerless mountain has formed so favourite a motive for artists 
during all the ages since a knowledge of art was first imported 
into the land* 

As I ga^ed at Fuji, enraptured, in that hour when I first 
saw Japan, a great desire settled upon me to climb the 
mountain, to creep foot by foot up that perfect outline 
which sweeps in one magnificent curve almost from the 
sea-shore to the sky, and to look far and wide over Japan 
from the very topmost pinnacle of the Empire* Two years 
later I gratified that wish, and now the mountain's crest 
was again my goal* 

The train was creeping laboriously up a steep ascent 
between hills covered with dense undergrowth and capped 
with crooked old pines — rugged, weather-beaten veterans, 
all twisted, bent, and straggling — ^which scorned every law 
of balance and proportion* From the tops of their red, reti- 
culated trunks a few gnarled branches stretched outwards and 
downwards, with seemingly no regard for any rules such as 



ii8 IN LOTUS-LAND 

govern the growth of well-regulated trees in other lands; and 
from the extremities of their distorted limbs a few spiky 
needles stuck out in little tufts^ as though bristling with 
temper, like the hackle of an angry fighting-cock* By their 
very defiance of convention these trees were beautiful — and 
utterly and peculiarly Japanese* 

From the pine-clad hills we descended to rice-fields — 
carpeted like velvet with the verdant spears of tender new- 
grown shoots — and thence, once more, up into hills covered 
with feathery bamboos, rustling to the bree2;e* 

The site of every cottage among these hills and dales 
seemed to have been chosen only after mature and careful 
consideration with a view to securing the best and most artistic 
effect* Each little humble dwelling stood just where it ought; 
were it moved either to left or right the picture would be 
marred* Made of natural-finished woods, bamboo and thatch, 
and standing in a cane-fenced enclosure, each of these huts 
was in itself a study* 

Before them lay the terraces and network of the rice-fields* 
No one who has seen the rice-fields and watched the seed 
mature to ripened ear, will deny that the beauty of the crop, 
which demands more^ unceasing toil than any other that the 
earth produces, is one of the greatest charms of the lands 
of the East* 

Descending again from the terraced hills to more rice- 
fields, the line bent round to the south, and as the train pulled 
up at a country station the emerald ocean lay before us* It 
was Sagami Bay, flecked with the white wings of a score of 
sampans* Long glittering waves were ladly rolling in, foaming 
as they surged up the pebbly beach, and receding with long- 
drawn sighs to their appointed limits* 

Here, also, by the sea as on the land, everything was 
typically Japanese* Near the water*s edge there was a rugged 
bluff with a few straggling pines leaning over the edge* One 
of the pines had leant too far, and was in peril of falling into 
the sea; but some thoughtful soul, seeing the artistic effect 
of that old tree, bowing to inevitable doom, had placed a firm 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 119 

prop under it, securely founded on the rock^ so that for many 
years there would be no danger of the landscape losing a bold 
and picturesque feature* 

Leaving the placid waters of Sagami Bay behind us^ the 
line bent inwards again^ and the great Koshu range lay ahead 
— blue^ dark, and forbidding under the heavy storm-clouds 
above it* And now, as the train turned westward, the great 
Fuji loomed before us, all black and purple in its summer dress* 
Always splendid, magnificent in all its moods, Fuji on this 
August evening was grand and awe-inspiring* To the south 
the sky was clear, but over the great volcano the heavens were 
filled with great banks and convolutions of clouds — ^white 
as snow, and, in places, dark as night — and a bright sunlit 
mass of vapour behind the mighty peak caused it to stand out 
black and frowning, towering to the 2;enith — a spectacle 
sublime* 

As we drew nearer to our destination the prospects for a 
fair to-morrow grew steadily worse and worse* The snowy 
billows of cumulus gave way to angry nimbus clouds, deep 
purple-grey and blue, which filled the western heavens* Once, 
however, the storm-clouds parted, and the dark brow of Fuji 
appeared, seeming almost to overhang us, as if threatening 
with destruction all who should attempt to invade its di^2;y 
solitudes: as if the very goddess of the mountain herself 
challenged us to dare dispute her right to reign in those 
altitudes alone and undisturbed* 

We reached Gotemba at 6*30 P*M*, and our arrival at the 
Fuji-ya Inn caused a pleasant diversion for the inhabitants of 
the town — to judge by the numbers that collected in front of 
the hotel, awaiting with interest the result of our discussion 
as to whether it would be better to remain at Gotemba for the 
night or push on, as we had intended, and sleep in one of the 
rest-huts on the mountain-side* We decided to have supper 
and think it over* The inn, we found, was full of guests — 
Japanese pilgrims en route to do homage to the goddess of 
the mountain by worshipping at the shrines at the crater^s lip* 

Mount Fuji is officially ''open^' only for three months of 



120 IN LOTUS-LAND 

the year — July to September* To undertake the ascent at any 
other period would entail much expense and risk* During 
the season thousands of pilgrims annually make the ascent, 
for it can be made in easy stages, as there are rest-huts, called 
go-me, where food and a shake-down for the night may be 
obtained, at approximately five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 
ten thousand feet* Some old people, who undertake the pil- 
grimage as a climax to a life of religious devotion, take a week 
or ten days to make the ascent, painfully and perseveringly 
accomplishing a thousand feet or so each day* This being 
the "'open'' season, and Gotemba one of the favourite starting- 
points for the climb, accounted for the large number of pilgrims 
at the inn that night* Inquiry of the landlord elicited the 
information that there were over seventy — as many being 
crowded into each room as it could be made to hold* 

Supper over, any further discussion as to the wisdom or 
otherwise of starting that night was superfluous, for, through 
the open window of the room that had been assigned to my 
Japanese fidus Achates, Nakano, and myself, we watched the 
storm-clouds growing momentarily more threatening, until the 
skies were black as pitch, though the moon was full* Presently 
a blinding flash of lightning rent the heavens, and a terrific 
crash simultaneously accompanied it* The long-gathering 
storm had burst at last, and even if the cyclopean forces that 
formed the great volcano had been loosed once more, the 
spectacle could hardly have been grander than the battle of 
the elements that we witnessed during the two succeeding 
hours* The lightning danced, and flickered, and flashed over 
the whole vault of heaven, and the thunder for an hour was 
incessant* Many of the pilgrims seemed overcome with fear, 
and crowded together in the rooms and passages, loudly 
repeating prayers in whining, sing-song tones* At length the 
tumult ceased, and we betook ourselves to the futons (padded 
quilts) to get well-needed rest, preparatory to the tedious 
tramp of the morrow* 

At 3 A*M* the bustle and clatter of the pilgrims, who were 
preparing for an early start, woke me; I got up to find the sky 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 121 

clear^ and Fuji blocking out a great triangular space in the 
starry heavens^ its whole outline brilliantly illumined by the 
soft light of the moon* I lay down again^ and slept till five^ 
when the little neisan^ who had come in to wake us^ exhorted 
me to look at Fuji^ which^ to my delight, was still in gracious 
mood, displaying its charms without reserve, and though 
snowless, save for a few patches, looked lovely, and all pink 
and violet in the early morning atmosphere* 

There was much ado about making the preparations for 
the ascent, as it was necessary to secure the services of four 
lusty coolies to carry my photographic apparatus, portable 
photographic dark-tent, supply of plates, blankets, change of 
clothing, and food, for I had come prepared to stop a week 
on the mountain, if necessary, in order to secure the views 
I coveted from the summit* The food to be got at the rest- 
huts is of only the coarsest kind; and I hoped my own supply 
would prove sufficient, so that I might not have occasion 
to resort to it* 

Whilst Nakano was engaging the coolies, I amused myself 
by inspecting the pendent flags, with which the front of the 
inn was decorated* These are, strictly speaking, not flags at all 
but towels* They are often the advertisements of tradesmen, 
who hang them up at the hotels at which they stay, or by the 
fountains of Buddhist temples, or near some Shinto shrine* 
These towels, in addition to having the merchant's name and 
business described on them, are frequently of very dainty and 
artistic design* By hanging them up at the temple fountain 
a double duty is performed* A service is rendered to the 
temple in the gift, trifling though it be, of a towel, so that those 
who cleanse their fingers and lips before entering to pray may 
have the wherewithal to dry them with; and a very excellent 
advertisement is obtained by placing on the towel an effective 
design with the donor's name and business description* The 
inscription cannot escape the attention of the user, as the 
towel is always suspended by a string and a thin piece of 
bamboo, so that it hangs straight, and can therefore be easily 
read* Similar towels are also used as banners by pilgrims^ 



122 IN LOTUS-LAND 

who donate them to each inn at which they put up^ thereby 
publishing the enterprise of their own particular club^ 

Gotemba is not an interesting town* It is not even pictur- 
esque^ but is very mean and poor-looking^ and lacking in any 
single feature except the view of the glorious mountain to 
which it owes its existence — ^for the inhabitants look to make 
sufficient earnings during the months the mountain is ''open^' 
to keep them for the rem^ainder of the year* They are as lacking 
in interest as the place* 

Nakano having secured the services of three brawny 
luggage-carriers^ called goriki^ on each of whose broad backs 
about fifty pounds of luggage was strapped^ we left Gotemba 
at 7 A*M* and took to a cinder path through rice and corn fields* 
Straight ahead of us the great Fuji towered to the very skies^ 
and it seemed a hopeless task to expect to reach the summit 
that night* 

From the rice-fields we tramped over a rising moor^ covered 
with long grass and studded with stunted pine-trees^ where 
birds were twittering everywhere in the soft balmy air* Little 
bunches of detached cumulus floating in the sky threw patches 
of moving shadows on Fuji's slopes^ and these clouds^ gathering 
about the summit^ presently obscured it from view* 

By ten o'clock we were well up in the forest and under- 
growth that clothes the lower slopes* Looking backwards^ the 
great barrier range of Hakone was a poem in greens of every 
shade^ with a belt of silvery clouds floating la^ly in from the 
west and lightly touching every peak* Sometimes the clouds 
above us parted^ and we saw thick mists settling in the ravines 
which scar the upper heights* These mists were white as 
the streaks of snow^ so that we could not distinguish where 
snow ended and mist began* It was a pretty sights and 
gave the mountain the appearance of having donned its 
winter dress* 

At eleven we reached Umagaeshi^ or '* Horse Return*'' 
Formerly^ those who came on horseback had to leave their 
steeds behind at this pointy and make the rest of the ascent 
by foot^ as above this place the mountain's slopes were held 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 123 

to be so sacred that no horse's foot might tread them* In 
former times^ women^ too^ were debarred from ascending the 
mountain higher than the eighth rest-house* But these old 
rules have lapsed of recent years* Now^ those women who 
can may ascend to the top with impunity; and hundreds 
of pilgrims^ who do not care to put too great a tax upon the 
nether limbs, ride on horseback as far as the second rest-house 
— a good two hours' tramp farther up the mountain* 

Indeed, so profaned has Fuji become that in 1906 a Japan- 
ese, under the incentive of a wager, rode a horse to the summit 
— a feat which called forth much protest from the press* 
Strange to say, however, this protest did not take the form of 
an outcry against the violation of ancient traditions, but was 
raised merely on the ground of cruelty to the horse* This was 
somewhat unreasonable, as there was no climbing to be done 
by the route taken, and therefore no reason why the horse 
should not accomplish the journey — ^which it did, without 
suffering any ill effects whatever* In the Himalayan passes 
horses are worked at much greater altitudes than the summit 
of Fuji* A protest on such grounds was the more remarkable 
as the Japanese horse is by no means the best treated equine 
in the world — or even in the East — and is, as any foreigner 
who has travelled much in Japan can testify, but too often 
the victim of ill-treatment and abuse* 

We reached Tarobo, 4600 feet above sea-level, at 11*15* 
This was not such rapid progress as I had hoped to make, but 
the goriki complained that they could go no faster, as the loads 
they carried were so heavy* Tarobd is an interesting spot, 
with a large and substantial rest-house, where we had some 
tea and rice* The place derives its name from a mountain 
goblin who was formerly worshipped at a shrine near by* 
One may purchase here, for the sum of ten sen, a staff such 
as is used by all pilgrims who ascend the mountain* These 
staves are marked by a burnt impress of the name, Fuji-san, 
in Chinese, and at the summit the residing priest adds a 
further impression* 

The view below us, as we rested here, was exceedingly 



124 IN LOTUS-LAND 

beautifuL The waters of the rice-fields glistened in the sun- 
shine^ and the atmosphere was so clear that^ with my glass^ I 
could easily pick out every detail of the houses along the old 
Tokaido highway* Snowy clouds floating in the a^ure added 
greatly to the charm of the scene; and the line of fluffy billows 
over the Hakone barrier had lifted^ so that between them and 
the mountain-tops we could see the end of Ashi lake^ flashing 
like a jewel in the sun^ and^ far beyond it^ the blue waters of 
Sagami Bay^ in which a single tiny speck marked the sacred 
island of Enoshima^ distant about forty miles from where 
we stood* 

At Tarob5 we left the pleasant green and shade of the 
woods behind^ and emerged suddenly on to the desolate waste 
of ashes up which we must toil for over seven thousand feet 
of height^ and along a 2;ig^ag path of more than fifteen miles 
in length* It was indeed a dreary prospect* Yet it was a 
wondrous sight which burst upon the vision as we left the 
grateful woodland* A vast expanse of cinders stretched before 
us^ slowly merging from black at our feet to purple-grey^ 
where^ miles and miles away^ it lost itself in cloudland* It was 
a burnt-up wilderness, covered with ridges and hillocks of 
pumice and scoriae, in which the torrential rains that deluge the 
mountain-slopes had torn great clefts and deep ravines* From 
this point to the top, the mountain sweeps in one beautiful 
unbroken curve — a curve so perfect and even that it reminded 
me of the wire rope, bending of its own weight, down which 
loads of fire-wood are sent across the Nekko river in Koshu, 
to Furuseki from the mountains on the opposite shore* 

As we struck out on to this barren waste the heat absorbed 
by the black cinders was terrific, and with the hot August sun 
scorching down on our backs the ascent of even so easy a 
mountain as Fuji became no joke* That toilsome journey to 
the top of Europe is not more laborious than the weary 
tramp over these interminable ashes; and the two mountains 
offer strange and striking contrasts* Mont Blanc is white — 
a colossal pile of ice, held by the highest aiguilles of the Alps* 
Fuji is black — an isolated, stupendous heap of cinders* One 




FUJI AND THE PINE TREES 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 135 

may sit on the hotel verandas at Chamonix and through 
telescopes observe^ occasionally^ a few black specks — like a 
little string of ants — creeping slowly^ almost imperceptibly^ 
up the virgin snows of Mont Blanc* As we left all vegetation 
behind us^ and set out on the now desert slopes of Fuji^ the 
mountain ants were here too^ only there were many more of 
them^ and they were white ants instead of black ones^ and 
crept amongst sombre ashes instead of stainless snows* 

Tradition says that Fuji rose from a plain in a single nighty 
when a great depression appeared in the earthy a hundred and 
fifty miles away^ which is now filled by the waters of Lake 
Biwa* That a volcano may have been formed here in a single 
night is likely enough* Who can say^ But that it arose from 
a plain is clearly a myth^ for a mile to the right of the second 
rest-hut there is a deep rift disclosing solid masses of rock^ 
quite different from any found elsewhere on the mountain* 
These rocks appear to mark the summit of some lesser peak 
which this mass of ashes has overwhelmed — and a chain of 
hills running from the south-east to this spot seems to confirm 
the theory* 

The heat — which had been getting almost intolerable^ for 
there was scarcely a breath of wind — was now gratefully 
tempered by clouds which came between us and the sun, and 
our progress at once became more rapid* We reached the 
ni-g5-me, or second rest-hut, at one o^clock, and rested for 
twenty minutes* On starting again we plunged into mists 
which came swirling down the mountain from every point of 
the compass, formed by some rapid barometric change that 
caused a cool, refreshing wind to blow* For this we were all 
very thankful, as it was a great relief after the sun's demon- 
stration of how painfully wearisome he could make the journey 
up these soft heat-absorbing slopes* 

The trail up the mountain was well bestrewn with waraji, 
those cheap and serviceable straw sandals which every native 
of Japan uses when travelling in country districts, and of which 
I had come provided with a good supply, of a si^e sufficiently 
large to affix to the soles of my boots* They not only afford a 



136 IN LOTUS-LAND 

good grip on the loose cinders, but give very necessary pro- 
tection to the leather, which would otherwise speedily be 
torn to pieces by the sharp, rough clinkers^ Even with the 
protection afforded by waraji, Fuji is "'good'' (0 for one pair 
of boots, and I would advise all who follow in my footsteps 
not to wear boots by which they set any store, as after the 
descent they will be of little further use* The right footgear 
for a trip up Fuji is a good, comfortable pair of old boots and 
several pairs of waraji* Two pairs of the latter may be reckoned 
on for the ascent, and about four pairs for the descent* Leather 
leggings are better than stockings, as they prevent the small 
cinders — in which, on the descent, one's feet are intermittently 
buried — from entering the boots* The Japanese never use 
boots for mountain excursions* They wear blue cloth socks, 
with a separate compartment for the big toe, and waraji tied 
to them* 

At 3*45 we reached the fifth go-me (8659 feet), with over 
3500 feet to go* I was glad enough to stop here and have a 
cup of hot cocoa, as the mists that had enveloped us were 
damp and chilly* Owing to the altitude and heavy going, 
and to the fact that we could not leave the goriki behind, as 
they seemed intent on loafing, we had not been able to proceed 
fast enough to keep warm* I had started out in summer 
clothing, suitable to the heat of the plains, and now, being 
quite insufficiently clad for these raw, driving mists, was 
shivering with cold* Whilst the goriki rested I got out some 
thick woollens and clothed myself more suitably for the great 
change in temperature* 

As we were leaving the fifth hut the mists parted, dis- 
closing Lake Yamanaka bathed in sunshine and reflecting the 
clouds above it* The clouds overhead also melted for a few 
moments, and there was Fuji's crest, as far off as ever it was a 
good three hours ago, when we had last had a glimpse of it* 
Surely we had not moved an inch, or else the mountain was 
ascending too! 

A band of descending pilgrims — laughing, shouting, and 
singing, in high spirits at having accomplished their mission 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 127 

— came running and leaping and glissading down the straight 
path of the descent* [The ascending path is 2;ig2;ag^ the 
descending one is straight*] 

Nearly an hour earlier^ as we met another descend- 
ing band^ I had shouted in Japanese^ ''How far is it to 
the top^' 

'* Three ri/* one of them replied* 

Now again I put the question as the merry pilgrims passed 
me* ''Howfar to the top$"' 

'* Three ri/^ came the answer* 

I knew it! The summit was as far off as ever^ and looked 
it! Without doubt^ the mountain was getting higher as 
fast as we were scaling it* At this rate we should never 
reach the top* Thank heavens^ we were at least keeping pace 
with it! 

By half-past four the clouds had cleared away^ and the 
whole upper Fuji was visible* We were well above the waist 
— ^in the middle of the great sweeping curve from the mountain- 
top to Tarobd* From a distance this curve is not very per- 
ceptible^ but from where we now stood we could see how great 
was the deviation from the straight line* Away to the west the 
mountain outline was much steeper^ and perfectly straight 
— 2i stupendous incline which leapt up at a dizzy angle 
into space* 

How weary this interminable dg^ag was getting! Mile 
after mile there was no variation to the monotony of turning 
its everlasting corners* Several times I tried to relieve the 
tedium by making short cuts^ straight up; but as soon as I 
left the beaten track the cinders slipped under my feet^ and 
progress was slower than ever* At 5 p*m* we were at the sixth 
go-me^ 9317 feet above sea-level* We had scarcely ascended 
700 feet in three-quarters of an hour* It sounds slow^ and would 
have been so if the others had been as unhampered as I; but 
each goriki^s load was a third of his own weighty and our pace 
was that of the slowest member of the party* 

Some rollicking students from Tokyo University were 
making the mountain ring with their songs^ and a number of 



128 IN LOTUS-LAND 

pilgrims^ too^ had settled in the rest-hut for the night> These 
pilgrims^ who flock from all over the land to Fuji in summer^ 
are mostly of the rustic class* They are very poor^ and are 
assisted on their mission by funds furnished by village clubs 
to which they belong* The members pay trifling annual sub- 
scriptions^ and each year lots are drawn to decide who of their 
number shall visit certain holy places* Most of the pilgrims 
are dressed in white^ with broad-brimmed hats^ shaped like 
Fuji^ made of straw* Each carries a staffs bought at Tarobo 
— which^ when the mission is over^ will become an heirloom 
in the family — and a large piece of matting tied to his back* 
This projects at each side^ and as it flaps about in the wind 
gives him a most droll appearance — like a young chick trying 
to fly* This mat serves as a waterproof coat; as a shield to 
keep the sun off the back; and^ at times^ as a bed — ^if^ as is 
often the case^ the owner finds the available supply of futons 
already engaged on his arrival at the rest-hut* Each pilgrim 
has also a tiny bell tied to his girdle* Thus^ when the mountain 
is '*open'' and the weather favourable, its slopes on the Go- 
temba and Subashiri sides — for Fuji may be ascended with 
safety only on certain well-kept routes — ^are all a-tinkling 
with these little sweet-toned bells* As the pilgrims slowly 
wend their way upwards they continually sing out, in sharp, 
staccato accents, the Shinto words "'Rokkon-Shojo, Rokkon- 
Shojo!'' — a formula signifying the emptiness of life, and 
conveying the exhortation to keep the body pure* 

^*Rokkon-Shoj5^^ is an abbreviation of the formula 
''Rokkon-Shoj5 O Yama Kaisei,'^ which means, ^^May our six 
senses be pure, and the weather on the honourable mountain 
fine**^ Professor Chamberlain says that the pilgrims ^* repeat 
the invocation, for the rnost part, without understanding it, 
as most of the words are Chinese*^' When the full formula 
is used, it is chanted antiphonally, sometimes between bands 
of pilgrims a mile or more apart, as sound carries a long way 
on the mountain-side* It is usually abbreviated, however, 
to the first line* 

At 6 o^clock we reached the seventh rest-hut, and found 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 129 

it closed* The panorama from this place was a dream of 
beauty* Fleecy tufts of cloud floated above the landscape far 
below us^ as if great bales of cotton had been torn to pieces 
and scattered o^er the earth* The sun^ long since gone over 
the mountain, and now nearing the horizon, was turning 
the fleece into golden foam, and Yamanaka lake, steeped in 
shadow, peeped between the foaming wavelets, grey and 
smooth as steeL Far beneath us, and now many miles away, 
the forests on the lower slopes of the mountain looked sleek 
as velvet, and above, Fuji^s crest was blue and violet against 
a turquoise sky* 

The trail of the ascent is intersected at the seventh go-me 
by a path called '' Chudo Meguri,^' which encircles the moun- 
tain* Many Japanese Nature-worshippers make the circuit of 
Fuji by this path* It is about twenty miles round, and the 
journey takes about eight hours* If one desires to see scenic 
effects only, there is no object in ascending higher, as from the 
summit everything appears more dwarfed, and is liable to 
be obscured by haze* 

Above the sixth rest-hut the ascent becomes rapidly steeper, 
and the mountain is bestrewn with great blocks of lava* I 
would fain have made more rapid progress, but my goriki 
were evidently not moved by the enthusiasm that urged me 
on, and kept up the steady plodding gait which they knew by 
experience is the pace that lasts* 

Those who have spent holidays in the Alps, and have slowly 
fought their way up some icy peak, will know the steady 
mechanical pace set from the outset by the Swiss guides* 
Probably, before they knew better, they wanted, as I did, to 
go faster, much faster, but were kept in check by the men to 
whom this is no pastime but the business of their lives* It is 
the only way to scale a mountain — to adopt a slow and steady 
pace and keep it up like a machine; and it is marvellous what 
that slow, steady gait will accomplish* Hour after hour you 
plod on, slowly and surely, yet, almost imperceptible as your 
progress seems, eminence after eminence is gradually gained 
in the silence of deadly earnest, broken only by the crunching 



130 IN LOTUS-LAND 

of your boots and the squeaking of your ice-axe^ as^ using it 
for a staffs at each step you plunge its point into the snow* 
The light of the moon that helped you on your midnight start 
now pales^ the sky becomes grey^ and the grey gives way to 
pink and amber as the sun rises; but still you plod on^ stepping 
in the footprints of the guide in front* At last^ almost before 
you realise it^ the struggle is over* Your pulse beats quick and 
strongs and your whole body glows — not only from the effects 
of the exertion^ but with the joy of knowing that you have 
achieved your ambition* You have gained^ for the time beings 
the height of your desire; and^ from the topmost pinnacle of 
that icy finger which beckoned to you from the skies, you can 
revel in joy undreamed of by those who have never sought the 
solitude of the mountains, and the joy which they can bestow 
on those who love them* 

So it is with Fuji too — steady perseverance tells, and only 
by its exercise can the crest be won* My goriki knew this, and 
could not be urged to change the pace which had become to 
them a habit* Moreover, to them the ascent had no incentive 
of novelty* These men were mountain porters for three months 
of the year, carrying supplies to the rest-huts* Between the 
four of them they could aggregate over thirty ascents that 
year to the top, besides a greater number of journeys to the 
lower stations, although the rest-huts had scarcely been open 
a month* Small wonder was it, then, that they were not to 
be carried away by enthusiasm* 

How wearisome this plodding was becoming! How steep 
the mountain was getting ! I was beginning to feel tired, too, 
and marvelled how those fellows could do all this with those 
heavy packs* They must have sinews strong as wire* The 
path was now very steep, and care had to be exercised not 
to disturb the stones, otherwise they might roll down the 
slope, to the danger of some one below* My feet were getting 
very heavy, and my thighs beginning to feel sore at the un- 
wonted tax upon the muscles* The clinkers were rougher 
and sharper at every step* Should we never reach that 
eighth go-me^* 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 131 

The goriki were tiring too^ for they had been going very 
slowly and were now stopping to have a smoke* I began to 
suspect them* Were they conspiring to try to induce me to 
stop for the night at No* 8^ I knew very well that they were 
used to transporting greater loads than this from Gotemba 
to the top in a day^ so I determined to reach the top that night; 
I would not be cajoled out of it* I dared not stop to admire 
the view* That would be fatal* I must not waver till No* 8 was 
reached^ or they would suspect me of being as tired as I was* 
These thoughts spurred me on to renewed efforts^ and at last 
I reached the hut^ ordered some tea^ and refrained from 
sitting down for fully five minutes — an act of self-denial which 
called for all the will-power I possessed — in order to deceive 
the goriki^ whom I knew were closely watching me^ as to 
the real state of my muscles* I lit a cigarette and walked 
outside to smoke it, scarcely thinking I had it in me to 
dissemble thus* 

The eighth hut is 10,693 feet above the sea, and about 1500 
feet from the summit rest-house, which is in a hollow on the 
mountain-top, some 200 feet below the highest point* The 
sun had long since set behind the mountain* The turquoise sky 
had turned to coral and amber, and Japan below was growing 
dark and being enveloped by the mists of night, which were 
spreading lightly over the earth, like a robe de nuit. It was only 
a thin stratum, however, and through it rose the peaks of 
Ashitaka-yama, 0-yama, the Hakdne range, and many others, 
seeming to float like romantic isles in a mystic sea of legend* 
The daylight died rapidly as I watched, and a radiance over 
the ''Maiden's Pass"' in Hakone foreshowed the rising of the 
moon* Darkness was gathering fast, and faintly shimmering 
stars began to stud the opalescent heavens* The luminous east 
turned silver, and, whilst yet the after-glow was burning in 
the 2;enith, the moon peeped over the ocean's edge and threw 
a dancing shaft of light across Sagami's waters to the rugged 
coasts of I^u* Only to have seen this glorious sight had been 
more than worth the journey* A hundred times had I ga^ed 
on such scenes depicted in golden lacquer, and marvelled at 



132 IN LOTUS-LAND 

their beauty* Now for the first time I saw the reality that 
inspired them* 

As I anticipated^ the goriki, who had arrived during my 
contemplation of these wonders^ complained of fatigue^ and 
said they could go no farther that night; but I put on a firm 
front at once and declined to consider breaking the journey* 
I was really anxious to reach the top and record a few im- 
pressions before turning in^ so I offered them each 50 sen 
extra if we were on the summit by nine o'clock* As we started 
off from No* 8 my suspicions that they were merely '* playing 
possum '^ proved to be well founded^ for such was now their 
desire to reach the top as soon as possible that I was hard put 
to it to keep ahead of them* The incentive of an extra shilling 
each had worked marvels in dispelling their fatigue* 

By this time the moon was shining brilliantly^ and near 
by the trail one of the snow-patches^ which had seemed but 
a mere speck from Gotemba^ was a quarter of a mile in lengthy 
and had a ghostly glimmer amidst the surrounding blackness* 
Above and all around us were great masses of slag and lava* 
Weird and unearthly-looking was this holocaust of hideous 
shapes — this vomit cast up by the mountain in the throes of 
its agony and fever* The path was much harder and firmer 
now^ but exceedingly steep; and every step amongst the eerie 
shadows was bringing us visibly nearer to the crater-lip above* 
My heart was beating fast and my head ached badly^ the result 
of the elevation and rarefaction of the air* We slowly passed 
a great guUy^ looking black and bottomless — a yawning chasm 
which from the world below was but one of those creases that 
serrate the mountain's crest* Then the sky-line appeared just 
above us* Another moment's scramble — one last and final 
pull — and I stood on Fuji's crest! 

It was 8*40 P*M* The rest-house was scarcely a hundred 
yards away^ and the goriki with their loads went uncon- 
cernedly on^ without once looking behind them* As for me^ 
I was content to sit awhile where I was^ and survey the scene 
about me* It was freeing hard^ but not a breath of wind 
was astir^ and the heavens were scintillating with glittering 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 133 

diamonds* For every star I ever saw before there were now a 
thousand^ all glimmering in the firmament and adding soft 
radiance to the rays with which the moon strove to pierce the 
blue-black void below* There was no robe de nuit over the 
earth now* It had dissolved away^ leaving nothing but inky 
blackness^ parted by one great streak of silver where the rapid 
Fujikawa raced onwards to the sea* 

Around me was naught but distorted shapes^ and space^ 
and silence* Though I strained every faculty to catch some 
faint murmur from the world below^ naught but silence 
absolute and supreme fell upon my ears — a silence broken only 
by the pulsations of my hearty which seemed to make great 
resonant thuds* It was awe-inspiring^ sublime, this vast, 
tremendous hush that could be almost felt* It was the infinite 
calm of great altitudes, and of the deep* 

Shivering with cold I went into the rest-house, and soon 
a meal was ready and steaming hot* Afterwards, I was glad 
enough to take to my rugs and futons and get to sleep* 

From this point I quote from my diary written during 
my stay on the mountain top : 

August 3* — I told the hut-keeper last night to be sure and 
call me well before sunrise if the weather were fine, but when 
I awake it has long been daylight, and I have a racking head- 
ache* The wind is whistling round the hut, which is in a 
sheltered hollow, and hail is pelting on the roof* I get up, and 
we all crowd round the charcoal fire and have breakfast* There 
is another fire where wood is burnt for cooking* Both fires 
are near the door of the hut, which is wide open, on the most 
sheltered side of the building* Outside nothing can be seen 
but swirling mists and driving snow and hailstones* 

August 3, Noon. — As hour after hour passes, the storm 
increases* Fortunately I have a good supply of canned provi- 
sions, and bread sufficient for several days* Nakano is lying 
down, wrapped up in futons, overcome with mountain sickness* 
The gdriki are all huddled up in a corner of the hut, completely 
covered, heads and all, with futons* 

August 3, 2 P*M* — The storm is worse* I am evidently 



134 IN LOTUS-LAND 

destined to incarceration here for a day or two at least, so I 
may as well record my impressions of my haven from the 
storm. The house is not comfortable, but it is strong and 
weather-proof* It is constructed of blocks of lava, each block 
being chiselled so as to fit exactly to its neighbours without 
mortar to bind it* The walls at the base are three feet thick, 
sloping on the outside to a width of one foot at the top* The 
interior is tightly lined with boards, and a solid framework of 
wood, braced with iron, supports the roof, which is the least 
substantial part of the structure, being made of one-inch planks 
covered with tin from kerosene-oil cans. Plainly it is only the 
solidity and number of the supports that enable the roof to 
carry the weight of snow it must have to bear in winter* A 
portion of the building is taken up by a large pile of snow, which 
constitutes the water supply* The floor is of crushed cinders, 
and a raised dais — made of boards, and covered with tatami 
(padded mats) on which visitors wrap themselves in blankets 
and futons, to sleep — ^runs the whole length of the building* 
There is no chimney, and the smoke from the burning 
pinewood diffuses itself most effectually into every corner of 
the structure* 

August 3, 4 P*M* — Twice during the afternoon I ventured 
outside the rock-walled compound enclosing the hut, but had 
to beat a hasty retreat, for icy winds were raging over the 
mountain, and I could scarcely stand* I venture a third time 
when the wind has subsided a little, and find the building 
has two wings, the central portion being occupied by an old 
Shinto priest who sits and waits for the pilgrims who, in fine 
weather, are continually straggling in to have their staves and 
garments impressed with the outline of Fuji's top — the hall- 
mark so envied by the pilgrim element of Japan* The postcard 
cra^^e has penetrated even here* I buy some postcards from 
the old priest, direct them to friends, and have them stamped 
with the impress which he places on the pilgrim's garments* 
The first carrier going down will take them* 

The goriki haven't moved all day except to unearth them- 
selves from their futons once to eat* I don't suppose they care 



/ 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 135 

how long the storm lasts* They are paid by the day^ and are 
having an easy time of it* It is quite evident they are not 
worrying about the weather* Why should they^* They are 
probably dreaming about their accumulating wages* Nakano^ 
however, is very unhappy* Poor fellow, he is suffering greatly 
with headache and sickness from the altitude and smoke* He 
has lent me Lafcadio Hearn^s book Kwaidan, which he fortun- 
ately brought with him* It is a collection of tales of Japanese 
superstitions and imagination, and thus the hours pass de- 
lightfully* The weird tales possess an added interest as I 
read them on the highest part of Japan, from which so much 
legend and fable emanates* 

August 3, 8 p*M* — ^With darkness the storm increases 
again* Two pilgrims have come in during the afternoon, 
having struggled up from No* 8 in five hours, and are stopping 
here to-night* They have, of course, no alternative* There 
are less expensive huts on the north-east side of the crater, but 
it would be as much as life is worth to try to reach them* 

The chronicles of Fuji show that about sixty years ago a 
number of pilgrims were caught in dense clouds on the 
mountain-top and lost their way* The clouds were the pre- 
cursors of a bli^2;ard, which broke suddenly and with terrific 
violence* When it abated, and the weather cleared, the frozen 
bodies of the pilgrims, to the number of over fifty, were found 
closely packed together, showing that they had kept united to 
the last for warmth and companionship in that dread hour* 
This is but one instance of the many sacrifices that Sengen 
Sama, the goddess of the mountain, has demanded of the 
faithful* The place where they died is now called Sai-no- 
Kawara, or the ''River-Bed of Souls*'' It is covered with 
hundreds of stone cairns, raised to the memory of these 
martyrs by those who follow more fortunately in their 
footsteps* 

It occurs to me to offer — for the benefit of those who 
aspire to undertake this expedition — a few words of advice* 
When you ascend Fuji be sure to provide yourselves with 
several large sheets of Japanese oil-paper, and do not forget 



136 IN LOTUS-LAND 

your gun and powder* I do not mean by this to imply that 
you should bring a mu^de-loader^ nor yet that you may 
expect any shooting* The weapon I refer to is what is known 
as an ^* insect-powder gun/' and the powder I mean is 
**Keating*s''; the former is an ingenious little contrivance 
for sprinkling the latter effectively* These precautions are to 
be directed against the onslaught of stalwart^ energetic fleas 
which is certain to ensue the moment you lie down in any of 
the rest-huts* 

The Fuji fleas are famous; they have a well-deserved 
reputation for activity and attention to business* They are 
borne to the mountain in the clothes of pilgrims* In the 
rest-huts they meet and mate^ and bring forth a strain that 
must perforce endure the rigours of the altitude^ or perish* 
Only the most robust survive^ and these make life a burden 
to those who come unprovided with means to repel their 
onset* Well sprinkling the mats around me^ therefore^ and 
spreading a huge sheet of oil-paper on them, I make my 
bed, and for the second night lie down to sleep, drawing 
another oil-sheet over me as an additional protection* Thus 
only can I rest with any degree of comfort* 

August 4, 7 A*M* — The storm is now a hurricane* For 
hours I have scarcely slept a wink, and have a splitting head- 
ache — due to the rarefied air* It is 7 a*m*, and every one is 
buried deep in futons* The rising and falling cadences of the 
wind have been dismal enough, but they have now become an 
almost incessant shriek* Now and then there is a moment's 
lull, but it is only the storm-fiends drawing back to make a 
fiercer, more determined effort* Gathering all their strength, 
the winds rush upon the structure, and smite it terrific blows* 
But the solid, well-braced walls resist the fiercest onslaughts; 
there is scarcely even a tremor, and the baulked furies go 
tearing past, screaming and howling in impotent rage* I would 
not have missed this for a good deal* I may never have such 
an experience again, nor do I wish to; but to be on Fuji's 
crest when the mountain is in the angriest of its moods is 
something to remember* When the wind woke me, and I lay 




Copyright H. C. IThiCe Co. 



A SHRINE AT THE CRATER'S EDGE 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 137 

in the futons^ listening to its onsets growing momentarily 
fiercer^ I was somewhat ill at ease; but now all anxiety is gone, 
and my confidence in the staunchness of the hut grows stronger 
as each fresh assault is baffled^ 

August 4, 9 A^M* — We all get up and breakfasts The wind 
seems to be lessening. I have finished Kwaidan, and must 
read it through again* I have nothing else but Murray's 
Handbook — ^best of all guide-books on any land — ^but I know 
much of it almost by heart* Nakano is still suffering greatly, 
and says if it were only possible to descend, he would have to 
go down* Mountain-sickness is a very painful thing* I have 
had it on Mont Blanc and know what it means* One of the 
pilgrims who came in yesterday had a dreadful cold* He was 
sneezing almost incessantly, and thought he was going to die* 
I took him in hand and gave him a strong glass of whisky and 
hot water and ten grains of quinine* I had great difficulty in 
getting him to take the whisky, but he didn't mind the quinine 
pills* This morning the cold and fever have left him, and he 
thanked me with brimming eyes* He said he knew I had been 
sent by the gods to save his life! 

Our host is the very model of patience, apathy, and taci- 
turnity* All day long he sits and smokes, and smokes and sits, 
and thinks* I have come to the conclusion he is on the verge 
of Buddha-hood, for he appears to be practising austerity* 
Every one else in the hut is covered up with futons, but he sits 
right in front of the open door, through which the icy fog is 
sweeping* There he squats, with the full force of the back- 
draughts of the wind blowing on him, and sometimes I, who 
am at the farthest end of the room, shivering in my overcoat 
and thick futons, can scarcely see him for mist* He is surely 
attaining much store of merit* His gaze is riveted, hour after 
hour, on the swirling clouds; but he moves only to fill his 
pipe, and light it, and tap out the ashes, and then begin the 
process over again* Smoking appears to be his only vice* A 
man who can sit in his ordinary clothes in a temperature like 
this must be impervious to the elements, and dead to all carnal 
desires* The marvel to me is that he even smokes*, He 



138 IN LOTUS-LAND 

should certainly renounce the habit* Then he would perhaps 
attain Nirvana* 

Three times he has relieved the monotony of his penance 
— I suppose it must be a penance — ^by taking a piece of paper 
and doing some figuring* I begin to suspect his meditations 
may be baser than I thought* Perhaps he is cogitating how 
much of a bill I will stand to compensate him for the loss of 
patronage of transient callers^ who^ in fine weather^ would 
drop in continually^ night and day* The arrival of a foreigner^ 
with a Japanese and four goriki^ must have been a very oppor- 
tune incident for him^ as otherwise his hut would have been 
all but deserted* He has a servant to assist him in the duties 
of the household* The servant's office chiefly consists in 
attending to the fires^ which need almost constant watchful- 
ness to keep them going — the effect of insufficient oxygen 
in the rarefied air* Thus the dreary^ dismal day passes^ the 
storm all the while steadily abating* As night approaches, 
the winds have almost ceased* For the third time I make up 
my bed, and bury myself in futons, evil-smelling oil-paper, 
and Keating's* 

August 5* — For the third time I wake up with a racking 
headache* The storm has completely subsided, but a cold 
drizzling rain is falling, and chilly mists enshroud the mountain- 
top* Towards noon the weather brightens, and later the clouds 
begin to break* At two o'clock — oh, joyous sight! — a ray of 
sunshine makes the wet rocks sparkle, and a great tinkling of 
bells announces the arrival of a band of some thirty pilgrims, 
all in white, with dangling sake bottles at their girdles* They 
have been immured for two days in the huts on the Subashiri 
side, and are now making the circuit of the crater* 

I started out for a walk round the crater's lip, and met an 
old and wrinkled woman slowly making her way amongst the 
ruthless clinkers* After exchanging greetings with me, the 
Oba-san (old woman) told me she was over seventy years 
of age, and had taken seven days to climb the mountain* Like 
us, she had been a prisoner during the last two days' storm, 
but had experienced no ill effects* She had been on pilgrimages 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 139 

to many of the Holy Places of Japan^ but this was her first 
ascent of Fuji* Like all Japanese country people she was 
respectful and gentle of speech* She had started with a band 
of comrades^ but she had been unable to keep up with them^ 
and they went ahead^ leaving her to make the ascent by easy 
stages alone* She had met them coming down four days 
before she reached the top* As we parted I noticed that, 
notwithstanding her age, which for a Japanese was great, she 
went her way slowly, but with steady, unfaltering steps, 
nothing daunted by the trials she had undergone, and un- 
shaken in her resolution to accomplish the mission on which 
she had set her heart, unless death met her on the road* 

There was something infinitely pathetic about that lone, 
aged figure, slowly and tediously wending her way amongst 
the cruel crags; and I sent one of my gdriki to assist her, and 
see her safely round the crater and to the various points that 
it was her desire to visit* This incident gave me food for 
reflection for some time, and often afterwards* Truly that 
wrinkled body was but the earthly covering of a noble, in- 
domitable soul* She had undertaken this arduous journey 
for a devout purpose — to lay up for herself greater store of 
merit with the gods — and I thought of other religions, and the 
women of other lands, where the Japanese are looked upon as 
heathens, and I wondered how many of those other women, 
with but half her measure of years, would embark on such 
a task for such an object* 

August 5, 3 P*M* — The mountain-top is now quite clear, 
and appears to float in a sea of clouds which are driving past 
a thousand feet below the summit* This gives rise to a curious 
illusion — that it is the mountain which is moving, whilst the 
clouds are still* We seem to be on an island forging through 
an ocean of foam* It is a most beautiful hallucination, but 
makes me di2;2;y as I watch it* 

The summit of Fuji, which looks so flat and smooth from 
the plains below, is covered with enormous crags burnt to 
every colour of the spectrum* In places great cliffs of slag 
tower a hundred feet above the rim of the crater, which is 



140 IN LOTUS-LAND 

five hundred feet or more in depths and about a third of a 
mile across* There are two separate craters — a smaller one 
beside the large one — but the wall between them is broken 
down* Both are choked with the detritus which is constantly 
falling from the walls^ and one may walk at will over the entire 
crater floor* On the south and west sides^ where the slope 
is sheltered from the sun by the surrounding peaks of slag^ 
there is a snow glissade to the crater bottom; this is the only 
semblance to a glacier that Fuji can boast* 

Not only is Fuji sacred^ but it is the most venerated of many 
sacred peaks in Japan* At the crater's eastern lip^ near the rest- 
hut^ there is a Shinto shrine^ consecrated to the worship of 
Sengen Sama (otherwise known as Ko-no-Hana-Saku-ya-Hime- 
no-Mikoto — ^'Princess who makes the Blossoms of the 
Trees to Flower"')^ which ranks high among the holiest of 
Holy Places of the Empire* There are several other shrines^ 
and the great pit is a gigantic shrine itself* As we stood on the 
brink of the crater^ a band of enthusiasts^ intent on consum- 
mating what they had come so far to do^ had descended to the 
bottom of the abyss^ and were making a myriad echoes awake 
as they clapped their hands to invoke the attention of the deity^ 
and chanted to the kaleidoscopic walls* On the verge of the 
steep, near by, others were making their supplications with 
equal manifestations of 2;eal to the yawning gulf before them, 
and the whole mountain-top was ringing with the clapping 
of hands and prayer* 

Shortly before sunset I went alone to Ken-ga-mine, the 
highest point of Fuji, on its western side* Here there is a little 
stone hut clinging to the edge of the mountain, which, on this 
side, is so steep that a mass of lava, which I managed to urge 
over the edge, struck the ground but twice, and then, with a 
great bound, leapt far out into the sea of clouds and dis- 
appeared* This hut was built for the reception of a Japanese 
meteorologist named Nonaka, and his wife, who essayed to 
spend the winter of 1895-6 in it, for the purpose of making 
scientific observations* The couple took up their abode here 
in September, but before Christmas, owing to the terrific 



sv 




91 










^^^^^^^^^H 








1 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 141 

weather which prevailed that winter^ apprehensions were felt 
for their safety^ and a relief expedition was organised to reach 
them and bring them down^ Notwithstanding the severity 
of the weather^ and the great difficulty of ascending the moun- 
tain when covered with snow and ice^ the expedition was 
successful^ and reached the hut in safety* Nonaka and his 
wife were found nearly frozen to death* It is said that they 
both refused to leave^ preferring death to failure in their effort* 
Their entreaties to be allowed to remain were^ of course^ 
disregarded^ and they were carried down* For many days 
afterwards their lives were despaired of^ but ultimately they 
both recovered* 

As I stood near this hut^ on the utmost pinnacle of Japan^ 
the sea of clouds was rising slowly higher — borne upwards 
in heaving billows by some under-current — ^whilst the wind 
was filling the crater behind me with scudding wrack* My 
pinnacle was soon surrounded^ and no other part of the 
mountain was visible* I stood alone on a tiny island of rock 
in that cosmic ocean^ seemingly the only human being in 
the universe* Soon the illusion of being carried rapidly along 
in the cloud sea was so real that I had to sit^ for fear of falling 
with di2;2;iness* 

When the sun sank to the level of the surging vapours^ 
flooding their waves and hollows with ever-changing contrasts 
of light and shade^ the scene was of indescribable beauty* 
I have never seen a spectacle so replete with awesome majesty 
as the sunset I witnessed that evening from the topmost cubic 
foot of Fuji* A few moments only the glory lasted* Then the 
sun sank into the vapoury ocean^ the snowy billows turned 
leaden grey^ and darkness immediately began to fall* 

As the last spark of the orb of day disappeared into the 
foaming breakers there was a rush of wind across the crater^ 
due to the instant change of temperature^ and in a moment 
the mountain-top was in a tumult* The great abyss became 
a cauldron of boiling mists^ and icy blasts moaned and whistled 
among the crags which loomed like ominous moving phantoms 
in the turbulent vapours and dying light* It was a wondrous^ 



142 IN LOTUS-LAND 

almost preternatural spectacle^ like a vision of Dante's dream* 
I was Dante^ and the gaping crater before me was the steaming 
mouth of helL 

Riveted to the spot with the fascination of the scene^ I did 
not realise my predicament till the mists suddenly enveloped 
me* Then conviction flashed upon me that I was half a 
mile from the rest-hut^ and had not the remotest idea which 
way to turn* Groping my way among the rocks^ I found the 
well-worn path^ made by the pilgrims^ which encircles the 
mountain-top; and following it, by feeling with my stick, as 
a blind man finds his way, I soon brought up against the wall 
of Nonaka's hut* This gave me my bearings, and I started off 
in the opposite direction; but it was slow work, and several 
times I lost the trail* Soon the dense fog and darkness baffled 
me, and, losing the trail again, I found myself on the brink 
of a precipice* A stone that I pushed over, to test the 
height, took three seconds to reach the bottom* I could 
go neither backwards nor forwards, as to do so was to run 
the risk of falling into the crater or over some cliff at the 
mountain's edge* 

For a long time I shouted as loud as I could, hoping some 
one in the rest-hut would hear me, and at last I heard an 
answering shout from one of my goriki, who, becoming alarmed 
at my long absence, had come out to look for me* Without 
a light I dared not move a foot, and with the enforced inaction 
I was chilled through, as I crouched under a rock for shelter* 

I waited nearly an hour more after hearing the first answer- 
ing shout* It seems that the man, being unable to locate my 
calls, started off in the opposite direction, for in heavy fog all 
sounds are very misleading* At length, however, guided by 
my shouts, he reached me, but so thick was the fog that not 
until he was within a few yards of me did I see the welcome 
glow cast by his lantern on the mist* 

I had had no wish to be a sacrifice on Sengen Sama's altar, 
and when I was once more deep in warm rugs and futons 
in the rest-hut it seemed a veritable paradise of comfort after 
the chilly experience I had just been through* 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 143 

August 6* — What was my joy when one of the gdriki awoke 
me^ bidding me get up quickly^ as it was clear weather and an 
hour before sunrise! We soon had a hasty breakfast^ and I 
write these lines on the eastern side of the mountain's 
edge^ where we have come to witness the pageantry of 
the heavens at the break of day» 

A number of pilgrims are waiting to salute the sun* The 
blue-black heavens are turning grey and the myriad stars 
are dimmed ♦ The grey becomes a more beautiful grey^ soft 
and opalescent — like pearL A timid blush comes over the 
pearly rose-tinting it* The blush suffuses slowly into delicate 
pink* The pink deepens and becomes momentarily more 
vivid^ flushing the arch of heaven^ whilst golden shafts radiate 
from the east to the 2;enith and the poles* The clouds^ which 
lie close-wrapped about the earth two miles below^ are a fiery 
sea^ with purple shadows^ and waves whose crests change 
from silver to scarlet and vermilion^ and then the whole slowly 
metamorphoses into a crucible of molten gold* It is a spectacle 
of sublime magnificence* 

Breathlessly and with throbbing hearts the pilgrims drink 
in the glorious phenomena of this climax of their lives* They 
will tell of it to their children^ and their children's children^ 
and their names will ever be deeper reverenced for the Mecca 
they have seen* The skies have gone through every colour of 
the prism* Suddenly a spark! a flame! and then a dazzling 
burst of fire! and the rosy morning is awake once more on 
Fuji's pearly crest^ whilst Japan below is yet enveloped in the 
filmy mists of night* The pilgrims bow their heads to the 
ground in adoration, and, with much rubbing of rosaries, 
the plaintive cadence of their prayers rises, like a lamenta- 
tion, to the heavens above* 

At Benares, the sacred city of India, as the sun rises each 
morning across the holy Ganges, the prayers of the multitude, 
assembled on the ghauts and bathing in the river, are as the 
roaring of the sea* But even this — one of the greatest and 
most stirring religious spectacles of the world — ^is not more 
picturesque than that little band of pilgrims, 'twixt heaven 



144 IN LOTUS-LAND 

and earthy high up in the blue profound^ on the very top of 
Japan^ kneeling in praise before the great orb that is the 
emblem of their Empire* In truths not to see sunrise from 
the summit of Fuji-san is to miss the most magnificent spectacle 
of Japan* 

As the morning grows^ the clouds^ lying shroud-like over 
the earthy dissemble into little cotton-tufts once more* Amongst 
them blue lakes appear* Yamanaka, nearest of them all — two 
miles below us^ and fifteen miles away as an arrow speeds its 
flight — mirrors the azure heavens and the clouds that float 
above it; whilst in Kawaguchi's limpid depths — ^whose 
placid beauty one has but to see to love — the surrounding 
mountains seem to ga2;e^ enchanted with the scenes reflected 
there* The panorama on every side is exquisite* Japan lies 
below us^ like a huge map in relief* Great mountains are but 
mole-hills, and ranges are mere ridges, over which we can 
look, and every range beyond them, to the horizon, which, 
from this altitude, seems half way up the sky* The waters of 
Suruga Bay are bordered with a line of white — big breakers, 
the baffled pursuers of the recent storm* As we circle the 
mountain's vertex other lakes come into view: Nishi-no-umi, 
Shoji, and Motosu, most enchanting lake in all the land; and 
then the earth is riven by the flashing Fujikawa speeding 
onward to the sea, divided at its mouth into a delta of many 
streams* The forests clothing the lower slopes are sun-kissed 
lawns, but seamed with many a wrinkle — great gullies torn by 
the torrents of water which the mountain sheds in the heavy 
summer rains* Fifty miles westwards the slumbering giants of 
Shinano, forming an impregnable barrier across the centre of 
Japan, are a mass of colossal peaks whose tops are lost in 
cloudland* In the midst of all this loveliness Sengen Sama's 
altar, on which we stand, bathed in warm sunshine, and 
caressed with gentle zephyrs, strives to touch the sky* 

The circuit of the crest of Fuji is replete with points of 
interest* Near Ken-ga-mine there is a precipice called Oya 
shirazu, Ko shirazu, which Professor Chamberlain translates 
** Heedless of Parent or Child,** — ''from the notion that people 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 145 

in danger of falling over the edge of the crater would not heed 

even their nearest relatives if sharers of the peril/^ The 

mountain slope near here is reft by a huge lava gorge known 

as Osawa ('* Great Ravine '')♦ This chasm scores the mountain 

as far as the eye can reach^ seemingly to its foot* The path 

then enters a region bearing graphic testimony to the fierceness 

of the furnace which formerly raged in Fuji's crater* Enormous 

cliffs of lava^ fire-streaked and stained to every imaginable 

hue — some a hundred feet or more in height — lean over the 

mountain's brow^ momentarily threatening to descend upon 

the praying pilgrims far below them* These lava crags bear 

such names as ** Thunder Rock/' ** The Rock Cleft by Buddha/' 

**Sakya Muni's Peak" (the second highest point of Fuji)^ 

etc*^ names that reflect something of the direful grandeur 

of the place* This is where a great lava stream once poured 

out from the crater^ and flowed for nearly twenty miles till 

it reached the Koshu mountains^ and dammed up the hollows 

now filled by the waters of the chain of lakes at Fuji's foot* 

The well-worn path then passes round the smaller crater; 

the spring of ** Famous Golden Water"; a row of pilgrims' 

huts, and a precipitous cliff called ** The Peak of the Goddess 

of Mercy/' near which steam rises from the loose pumice 

and scoriae, showing that Fuji's heart still glows* One cannot 

bear the hand longer than a few seconds in the ash, and eggs 

can be cooked in it in ten minutes* 

On the eastern side is Sai-no-Kawara, or **The River- 
Bed of Souls/' before alluded to* I was about to make a photo- 
graph of Lake Yamanaka from near this place, when the 
inevitable cloud, which so frequently appears when I produce 
my camera, floated up the mountain-slope, blotting the prospect 
from view* For fully an hour I waited, and then jocularly said 
to one of the gdriki: ''Go and pray to Sengen Sama to send 
the cloud away*" The man took me at my word* He ran over 
to the crater's edge, summoned the deity as he would a serving- 
maid by loudly clapping his hands, and prayed* Curiously 
enough, the cloud passed by immediately* He came running 
back, chuckling with glee at the speedy manner in which his 



146 IN LOTUS-LAND 

petition had been so favourably answered^ and I took the 
photograph which faces this page* Long before evening the 
cloud -sea had closed about the mountain again^ and at 
sunset I was able to record with my camera one of the 
most remarkable and beautiful phenomena I have seen 
in any land* 

I had been four days on the summit of Fuji — for the 
greater part of the time in no little discomfort — but the lovely 
views and wonderful phenomena of those days come vividly 
back to me as I pen these lines^ and I feel that the price I paid 
was little enough for the never-to-be-forgotten glories of 
Nature that had been revealed to me* 

The next mornings when I came to pay the reckoning at 
the rest-house^ prior to descending^ I found that I had done 
its keeper a deep injustice by my suspicions* The bill was 
exceedingly moderate, so much so that I marvelled at the 
meagreness of its total* I had been charged but one yen (two 
shillings) per day for lodging, very reasonable rates for such 
food as had been consumed by the goriki, and but fifty sen 
(one shilling) each for their beds per day* Thus, though I 
had had a somewhat rough time on Fuji's crest, I left the 
mountain-top without a grudge against it* 

On the occasion that is here chronicled the descent was 
devoid of any particular interest; but after another ascent of 
the mountain I had a somewhat unpleasant experience* 

One September I ascended Fuji from Gotemba with three 
goriki in ten hours, in fine weather; and the next day, which 
was also fine, having exposed a large number of photographic 
plates, we started down the Yoshida side at 10*45 A*^* As 
we went over the mountain's edge I determined to see how 
rapidly I could get down to the base* Fuji is exceedingly 
steep on this side, much more so than the Gotemba side, which 
is the easiest and longest route to make the ascent* A young 
Japanese artist of Tokyo was with me* 

After leaving the great lava precipices at the crater's lip, 
we got on to the glissade of the descending track* We started 
down this slope as fast as we could run, and found we could 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 147 

take the most prodigious strides* At every step our feet sank 
deep into the loose pumice and cinders, but I outstripped my 
companion, who had repeatedly to stop to take off and shake 
out his boots, as my leather leggings rendered me proof against 
this trouble* I wore out four pairs of waraji, however, as they 
were rapidly cut to pieces* 

For nearly an hour we sped on thus, running, leaping, 
and bounding down the steep glissade — at times gathering 
such impetus that we could not stop, until some ridge in the 
gradient enabled us to check our speed* Every bound took us 
a do2;en feet or so down the slope, and as our feet struck the 
loose ash we slid on a couple of feet more* The reader must 
not infer that this is the usual gait to come down the sacred 
mountain* More reverent and sober spirits take the descent 
at a much more dignified pace* We, however, were bent on 
record-breaking* 

At a quarter to twelve I reached the half-way rest-house 
just above the forest line, my friend arriving fifteen minutes 
later* I had descended 5000 feet and come about eight 
miles down the mountain in an hour* At one o^clock the 
goriki arrived* 

So far all had been simple enough, but from here onwards 
trouble began* As we rested for a further half-hour whilst 
the gdriki had a meal, Yamanaka Lake, a mile below us, and 
nine miles away, looked so beautiful that I decided to change 
my plans about going down to Yoshida, and to proceed to 
the lake instead* Yamanaka Lake is called by the Japanese 
Mika-dzuki Kosui, or ^* Three -Days* -Moon Lake,'* from 
the similarity of its shape to the moon at that period of 
its phases* 

The rest-house keeper and the gdriki at once said that 
they never heard of a descent being made at that point, and 
that it would be quite a dangerous thing to attempt it, as there 
was no track* But if there was no track, I thought we would 
find our way easily enough, as I had a compass and we had 
only to keep going eastwards and downwards* It looked 
simple enough* There was the lake below; we had only to 



148] IN LOTUS-LAND 

go along the mountain-side a mile or two and then descend 
straight to iu 

Leaving the hut at 1^30 p*m*^ we therefore went along the 
Chudo Meguri path for about two miles until we reached a 
deep depression* This^ we decided^ would be a suitable place 
to descend^ as the depression would develop into a gully which 
would go straight to the plains* It all looked so easy that I 
ventured the opinion we should be at the lake by five o^clock* 
The goriki were of a different mind^ however^ saying that when 
we reached the forest it would be exceedingly difficult work 
to penetrate it* 

The depression gradually became deeper^ and soon there 
was no longer loose scoriae under foot^ but rough lava from 
which the ash had been washed away, and the going was very 
slow* The depression became a gully, the gully a ravine, and 
the ravine, in an hour, was a canon, with walls a hundred feet 
or more in height* Few people have any conception how the 
erosion of ages has torn the sides of this mountain, which looks 
so smooth and unbroken when seen from the beaten track 
many miles away* The bed of the canon became rougher and 
rougher, and progress slower each minute, till we came to a 
precipice, fully sixty feet high, which there was neither any 
way of descending nor of circumventing* In the rains this 
place is doubtless the site of a fine waterfall* There was nothing 
to do but retrace our steps some distance and climb to the 
top of the gorge* This was exceedingly difficult, and by 
the time we had got up, with all the impedimenta, it was 
five o^clock — the hour at which I had expected to reach 
the lake* 

We were now in a thick forest, but by keeping along the 
edge of the gorge we made some headway, until the under- 
brush became so dense that it was no longer possible to follow 
it* We then struck off into the forest, and progress was pain- 
fully slow — as the gdriki had prophesied it would be* Alas, 
for the misery of the next three hours ! Rain began to fall, and 
before we reached the edge of the forest it was eight o^clock, 
and we had miles of Yamanaka moor still before us* We had 



AN ASCENT OF FUJI-SAN 149 

to proceed by lantern light — fortunately we had three oil- 
paper chochins with us^ such as are used by rikisha-runners. 

The skies were black with heavy clouds, and we soon found 
that the moor was worse than the forest, for it was clothed with 
a dense mass of brambles and small apple-bushes, with long 
thorns which tore our clothes and scratched us all over* As if 
this were not bad enough, the underbrush was full of hidden 
lumps of lava thrown out from the volcano, and against these 
we were continually hurting our legs* '* It never rains but it 
pours,*^ and so, to add to our difficulties, a thunderstorm of 
tropical severity broke* 

We were soon wet to the skin, but my cameras, plates, 
etc*, were all well wrapped up in oil-paper and waterproof* 
Struggling through the brush I stumbled on a rough clinker 
and fell, twisting my ankle severely* Every step now gave 
me a good deal of pain, and I could only proceed by 
limping on one foot with the help of the goriki and my 
pilgrim's staff* 

Although the moon was nearly full, the heavy thunder- 
clouds obscured its light completely, and without the lanterns 
we should have been in a sorry plight, as we could scarcely 
see a yard ahead* Every now and then a flash of lightning lit 
up the moor and the lake ahead, making the darkness that 
followed blacker than ever* For three hours we struggled along 
thus, and when we finally reached the Yoshida road it was 
eleven o'clock* I was too done up to go another step* For 
ten hours, although putting forth great exertion, we had found 
no water to drink, and my strained ankle was giving me a good 
deal of pain* Wrapping myself up in oil-paper^ I lay down 
on the grass by the roadside, telling the others to go on to 
Yamanaka for a horse* They went off, and in half an hour I 
heard the rumble of a basha, which they had fortunately 
been able to engage* We all got in, and by midnight were 
comfortably installed at a Yoshida inn* 

Our arrival caused the whole household to turn out of bed, 
and the goriki all talked at once, relating the story of our 
adventures to the host, his family, and several guests, who all 



150 IN LOTUS-LAND 

listened with wide-open eyes and mouths^ and many inter- 
jections of '* Naruhodo ! '' ^ 

The innkeeper then delivered a long and fatherly oration, 
telling us he had lived in Yoshida for over fifty years, but had 
never heard of any one attempting to descend the mountain 
at that place^ I believe he doubted my sanity for having insisted 
on such a cra%y undertaking* As I sat there, with the good-wife 
carefully massaging my swollen ankle, and thought of our woes 
of the last few hours, there was no one in the room who agreed 
with the old man more heartily than I; and I vowed that if 
ever I ascended Fuji again I would descend the mountain 
by one of the established routes, and that nothing should ever 
induce me to wander from the beaten track* 

^ I have noticed that when a Japanese is spinning a yarn his victim 
chimes in with a ** Naruhodo ** at every point the raconteur makes. This 
word may be rendered into English by such phrases as ** Well, I never 1 ** 
** You don't say so I *' ** WhoM have thought it ! " *' Indeed ! '* ** Good 
gracious ! *' — according to the inflection of the voice. 




A SHOWER IN THE WOODS 



CHAPTER X 

NIKKO AND CHUZENJI 

NiKKO^ where the greatest of Japan^s old-time rulers was 
buried^ does not rank among the ^* Three Principal Sights*^ 
of the land. It ranks above them* It stands in a special class^ 
alone* It is the climax of Japanese wonders* It is the goal 
of every traveller to the East^ and the name betokens^ to the 
Japanese mind^ the standard by which the claims to scenic 
fame of all other places are measured* 

The scenery of Nikko is deservedly renowned throughout 
the worlds for it is unrivalled in all Japan^ and the air is soft 
and sweetly scented^ and stimulating as rare old wine* It is 
here^ in the midst of the '* Mountains of the Sun's Brightness/' 
that all the Japanese sprites^ and elves^ and brownies live* 
And it is no wonder that Nikko is the Japanese Fairyland^ for 
surely never was there anywhere a place with so many things 
that such little people love* The plashing of silvery cascades^ 
the murmur of rippling rills^ and the roar of foaming rivers 
fill the air with fairy music^ and the grand old forests are just 
the very place for fairies to play their rings of roses; whilst 
as for the wondrous temples^ they are simply fairy palaces 
of beauty* 

Just below the garden of the Kanaya hotel runs the torrent 
whose music "'fills the sky-roofed temple of the eternal hills/' 
and across it are the magnificent forests^ deep in the brown- 
green heart of which the temples are buried* The river is 
spanned by a vermilion bridge^ which leaps across it in 
one beautiful curve* This bridge is for the especial use 
of the Emperor whenever His Majesty comes this way* 
But how did the bridge get there $* One of Nikko's prettiest 
legends explains* 

151 



153 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Nearly twelve hundred years ago the Buddhist saint Shodd 
Shonin^ in his search for the holy mountain of his dreams, 
Nantai-zan, arrived at Nikko, and found his farther progress 
barred by the waters of the swift Daiya-gawa* As he stood 
on the bank, revolving in his mind whether he should turn 
back or endeavour to find a ford to the river higher up, a snake 
appeared in the grass* Now it so happened that the practice of 
extreme austerity for many years had enabled the saint to 
understand much that it is not given to ordinary mortals to 
comprehend* Amongst other things he had learnt the language 
of animals; when, therefore, the snake spoke, Shodo Shdnin 
at once understood the words it uttered* 

^*What are you thinking of$"* it asked* ^*Do you wish 
to cross the river $'^' 

**Yes,'^ answered the saint, ^*I desire to reach that high 
peak yonder, which I believe is the holy mountain of my 
dreams*** 

^*Have faith in me, and I will help you,** said the 
snake* ^*Lay yourself on my back and I will carry you 
across*** 

Shonin did as requested, and the snake then stretched 
and stretched itself out across the foaming torrent, and as it 
stretched, it became a great red dragon, whose head reached 
easily to the opposite shore* The priest alighted safely, and 
as he turned round to thank his benefactor, what was his 
surprise to find that the great dragon had disappeared! 

That was the origin of the first Red Bridge of Nikko, and 
the present structure stands in the place where Shddo Shonin 
crossed the river* 

Every American writer on Japan has told how, when 
General Grant visited Nikko, the local authorities opened the 
Red Bridge for him to pass across, but he declined to break 
the old tradition* The small boys of the place, however, have 
no such compunction in treading the sacred planks, and there 
are few youngsters in Nikko who have not stolen across it 
after dark* A young Japanese, with whom I once visited this 
district, made no bones whatever about leaping over the gate 




THE CRYPTOMERIAS AVENUE AT NIKKO 



NIKKO AND CHUZENJI 153 

and crossing the royal footway^ and then invited me to do the 
same* But following the famous American example^ I declined 
the proffered honour, as there is another bridge for ordinary 
mortals fifty yards lower down the stream* 

When the great Shogun lyeyasu, first of the Tokugawa 
line, died in 1616, his son, Hidetada, who succeeded him, 
began at once to carry out his father's dying wish that his 
remains should be interred in a mausoleum eclipsing in 
gorgeous splendour anything hitherto seen in Japan* The 
body was therefore buried on the heights of Kuno-^n, over- 
looking the beautiful Suruga Bay, amidst temples of great 
magnificence* 

Later, it was considered that a still more worthy resting- 
place could be found among the Nikko mountains, and the 
building of a much finer shrine was at once embarked upon* 
For this purpose vast contributions of money and material 
poured in from all the various Daimyos* One Daimyo, however, 
was too poor to give a sum of money befitting one in his position, 
or an expensive gift of timber; so instead he offered to plant 
two rows of cryptomeria-trees from Utsonomiya to the shrine, 
a distance of twenty-seven miles* In course of time these trees 
grew into an avenue exceeding in grandeur any other in Japan, 
and for two hundred years and more this avenue has been 
one of Nikko's most famous sights* Though storm and 
tempest have made many gaps in it, it stands to-day a 
beautiful aisle of grand old trunks and redolent foliage nearly 
ten leagues long* 

Nikko village has grown up since the old days, and the 
avenue does not now reach to lyeyasu's shrine, but breaks off 
abruptly at the lower end of the village's single mile-long 
street* When entering the avenue from this end it is truly 
grand* In the midst of the sunlit fields the twin files of veteran 
trees, whose branches almost meet overhead, make one long 
bower of greenery* They do not begin, or straggle off, with 
weaklings; two stalwart giants head the lines, and behind 
them stand other giants just as sturdy* Under the canopy of 
the grand old trees the afternoon sun throws bars of deep 



154 IN LOTUS-LAND 

shadow from the bulky trunks across the ancient highway^ 
and between them 

The sunshine darting through 

Spreads a vapour soft and blue 

In long and sloping lines. 

Now the road lies on a level with^ now deep below^ the 
bordering farm-lands^ and the roots of the trees entwine 
themselves and form a broad rampart on either side* The 
beauty of the avenue is marred by ugly telephone poles^ which 
interpose themselves on the view at every hundred yards ♦ 
These could just as well have been placed outside the avenue 
as inside it^ but consideration for scenic effect is no more a 
part of the electrical engineer's education in Japan than in 
any other land* 

Nikko is the name of the whole of the mountain district 
hereabouts^ but to the foreign mind it denotes the villages of 
Hachi-ishi and Iri-machi* The former stands at the head of 
the avenue; the latter lies half a mile away on the opposite 
bank of the river* 

Hachi-ishi is one long street of curio-shops^ and shops for 
the sale of local products — skins^ carved furniture^ and lacquer 
boxes* As one walks up this street one is pressed by sweet- 
voiced little maids to enter every doorway^ and it is hard to 
run the gauntlet of so many smiling sirens without loading 
oneself up with another box or some quaint curio* Near 
the end of the street is the beautifully-appointed Kanaya 
Hotels commanding a wondrous panorama of scenery from 
its verandahs^ and at nighty when weary with sight-seeing 
one is lulled to sleep by the murmur of the Daiya river 
below its windows* 

Across the bridge there are a few more shops^ and no one 
ever passed that way without making the acquaintance of 
Mme* Onuki, the owner of one of them* This little lady was 
formerly a geisha^ and has all the arts and blandishments of 
the cleverest of her kind* She waylays every visitor to the 
temples^ and few can resist her^greeting and entreaty to '' Please 



NIKKO AND CHUZENJI 155 

come and see my shop/' The man who hesitates here is lost^ 
for of all the wheedlers and coaxers in Nikko she is the most 
adroit* '*You are very nice gentleman/' she purrs^ as she 
shows some lacquered box* ** I see you very well understand* 
Every one cannot understand like you^ because every one have 
not so good taste/' Her flattering tongue never ceases its 
^* blarney" the whole time she has a possible customer in the 
shop^ and no human fly ever extricated himself from this little 
spider's web but was lighter in pocket and richer by some 
dainty piece of native workmanship* 

A hundred yards away a broad path strikes up the hillside 
from the main road^ and plunges at once into magnificent 
cryptomeria groves^ where only a few stray rays from the 
noonday sun ever penetrate* A broad and beautifully-kept 
gravel walk leads to the temple gates* It is flanked by deep 
stone culverts, and down the middle of the way there is a 
broader culvert still* Dancing, rippling, gurgling, and flashing 
in these granite beds, crystal streams hurry from the hills 
to join the noisy river in the ravine below* The soft, religious 
silence of the place is broken only by the murmur of these 
limpid rills, the occasional croak of a hoarse old crow, or 
the shrill squeal of a la^sily-soaring hawk* The great sweep- 
ing curves of Buddhist roofs peep from the groves by 
the wayside* 

The largest of these buildings is the **Hall of Three Bud- 
dhas," beautifully situated in a landscape garden with a lotus 
pond — 3, meet place to tarry awhile in meditation should the 
sacred flowers be blooming* There is a curious ^* evil-averting 
pillar" in the grounds, and near it is a belfry, in which hangs 
a bell that is probably the greatest triumph of the bell-founder's 
art in Japan* Others there are that are larger, larger by far, 
but greater bulk of metal has only served to produce a deeper, 
more sonorous sound — a mellow basso profondo — ^whereas the 
Nikko bell is the very sweetest and purest tenor* At every 
hour from dawn to sunset a priest comes from a neighbouring 
building and strikes the time by means of a light, suspended 
log* Immediately after the last stroke he sounds one lighter. 



156 IN LOTUS-LAND 

softer note — a mere touch of the swinging bole — ^as a sort of 
punctuation mark to apprise all hearers that the final blow 
has been struck* 

The Irai-no-kane, or '* Sundown Bell/^ was to me always 
the sweetest — coming at that quiet^ subtle hour when day was 
giving way to night; when the skies were turning golden; 
when the redolent woods were giving off the most fragrant 
of their perfumes^ and everything in this tranquil spot seemed 
to breathe of centuries of hallowed peace* I used to wait for 
its note^ and listen to the silvery sound with keenest pleasure* 

At the top of the gravelled slope is a granite torii of noble 
lines and grand proportions^ with majestic cryptomerias all 
around it* Beyond^ are a spacious terrace^ with footways flagged 
with granite, and the finest pagoda in Japan* Its five blood- 
red stories are all agleam with gold, and bright with brass and 
green old copper* Bron2;e bells hang from every corner of its 
multiple roofs, and flowers and curious animals, and the crest 
of the Tokugawa family, are carved and worked in gilt all 
over it* Facing the torii is the Ni-O-mon, or "'Gate of the 
Deva Kings''; but the terrible figures of the guardian giants 
have been removed to the temple where the bones of lemitsu, 
lyeyasu's grandson, rest* In their place now stand a pair of the 
Heavenly Dogs*^ This is the main gate to the long series of 
courtyards and temple buildings that stand in memory of the 
great warrior who founded the Tokugawa line of Shoguns* 

To describe these temples in detail is not within the scope 
of this book, for no description that I might offer could convey 
any adequate conception of their beauty* A mere sketch 
must suffice* As one passes through the paved courtyards, 
and by superb pavilions, gorgeously painted in coloured lacquer 
and gold, one marvels at the manner in which each separate 
part is made subject to the idea that is the nucleus of the 
whole* The most renowned wood-carvers of the time adorned 
the buildings* Each gallery and pavilion is richly carved* On 
one of them is the famous monkey trio, with hands to eyes, 
mouth, and ears, conveying the exhortation not to see, hear, 

^ See page 2i7» 




Copyright Underzuood &• Underiuood. 



THE YOMEI GATE AT NIKKO 



NIKKO AND CHUZENJI 157 

or speak any eviL In addition to this masterpiece Hidari 
Jingoro is represented by several other examples of his skill* 
In the courtyards there are torii^ drum-towers, bell-towers, 
and wonderfully-carved bronze lanterns; and a stone fountain, 
the brim of which is levelled with such precision that the 
over-flowing water falls in a perfectly even sheet all round it 
without a bubble or ripple* To all appearance the bowl is 
surrounded by a plate-glass walL This fountain is one of the 
greatest wonders of all this wonderful place — it is, indeed, 
one of the most remarkable works in bronze I have seen in 
any land* 

From time to time the complete restoration of Nikko^s 
temple buildings is undertaken* The work, I was told, occupies 
about five years* Those of the buildings already restored when 
I last visited Nikko were gorgeous in vermilion, black, and 
gold; but their splendour was marred by no tawdriness* 

So cleverly has Nature been made to serve as the handmaid 
of Art at Nikko that one feels that the temples and the forests 
are one — part and parcel of the great master-work, as indeed 
they are; for the buildings were designed to accord with their 
surroundings, and every spot of the rich colouring and gleam- 
ing gold is in perfect harmony with the deep greens of the 
forests that tower over all, giving the sense of height in which 
the buildings are lacking* 

One of the gateways, the Yomei-mon, was considered by 
its builder to be a work of such perfection that he feared to 
complete it, lest it should invoke the envy of the gods and 
bring ruin upon the house of Tokugawa* A main pillar, there- 
fore, was turned upside-down, and thus impending evil was 
averted* This surpassingly ornate structure — ^more like a 
casket for gems than a building — is deeply sculptured with 
an almost incredible wealth of embellishment* The heads of 
gilded dragons, with gaping mouths and scarlet throats, and 
of unicorns and the mythical kirin, glower at the end of every 
beam, and floral arabesques adorn every possible space, whilst 
the balustrade running round a projecting balcony is richly 
carved with high relievos of children at play* A medallion on 



158 IN LOTUS-LAND 

one of the central pillars is a curio such as the Japanese 
love^ It represents a pair of playful tigers — the natural 
grain of the wood combining perfectly to form the hair in 
their coats^ 

Beyond this gate is another^ smaller^ but almost equally 
beautiful — ^the Kara-mon^ or '* Chinese Gate/^ It is inlaid 
with designs of plum-trees, dragons, and bamboo, and is richly 
carved with figures of Chinese sages* This is the entrance to 
the oratory, the interior of which is ablate with gold and 
coloured lacquer* 

In the court between these two gates is a building for the 
performance of the sacred kagura dance* A priestess, wearing 
a white surplice over a scarlet skirt, with a nun^s bonnet on 
her head, goes through the motions of the dance; but it is not 
artistic, and consists merely of a few steps to and fro, a few 
shakes of a rattle, and a few passes with a fan* 

lyeyasu^s tomb lies at the top of a long, winding stairway 
on the cryptomeria-clad hillside* The stone steps and massive 
balustrade are all green and grey with moss and lichens, and 
the soft mossy carpet under the stately old trees is inches 
thick from the damp of centuries* 

After all the grandeur and splendid elaboration of colour 
of the buildings, this old stairway amidst the stately trees 
subdues the exhilaration that every visitor feels until this spot 
is reached, and any sound from human lips seems almost 
sacrilegious in the hush of these silent shades* That the awe 
of the great Shogun's presence should be felt in death was 
the central idea in the building of the shrine* The pomp and 
majesty of his life is shown by the magnificence of all that has 
gone before; now one is made to feel the greater majesty of 
the death of one who was supreme among his fellow men — 
whose spirit seems to haunt his shrine, though three centuries 
have passed since his mortal clay was laid to rest* 

The tomb is a large pagoda-shaped casket of bronze, 
standing within a stone-balustraded enclosure with heavy 
bron2;e gates — the metal of both gates and tomb being so 
heavily impregnated with gold that it is of a rich light brown* 




MEDITATION 
A Study at Gamman-ga-Fuchi, Nikko 



NIKKO AND CHUZENJI 159 

The extreme grandeur of its environment and the peaceful 
solemnity encompassing the shrine cannot be described* It is 
Japan's grandest triumph^ and a glorious tribute to the memory 
of the greatest name in the long list of her rulers* 

lemitsu^ third of the Tokugawa Shoguns^ was buried on a 
hill half a mile distant* The shrine and pavilions are somewhat 
similar to^ but less magnificent than^ those of the last resting- 
place of his grandfather, lyeyasu* 

One does not go to Nikko, however, only to see these 
splendid temples* Kindly Nature, when she made this lovely 
land, surpassed all her other efforts in the glorious profusion 
with which she scattered feathery woods and sombre forests, 
gau2;y cascades and white-robed waterfalls with either hand; 
and for each day of a month one can find some new and yet 
more beautiful walk to explore* Rambling about the deserted 
bridle-paths in the silent forests, one is ever discovering some 
moss-overgrown old stairway; a few stone lanterns; a lone, 
but not neglected, little temple; or some tiny shrine bedecked 
with a few paper prayers, offered by the patient pilgrims who 
scent such places of communion from afar, and pass by none 
of them without a supplication or simple oblation* Everything 
is green and hoary with age, for there were monasteries in these 
secluded wilds, and monks and abbots were laid to rest in 
ancient graveyards here for centuries before lyeyasu saw the 
light* There are other ** God's acres '' too, where 

Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, 
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep* 

Grand old trees have wept over their graves for hundreds of 
years, and out of these tears thick moss has sprung and covered 
the pock-marked tombs with a velvety garment* 

From the gravelled avenues centuries-old, stone-paved 
pathways lead, and entice one to wander under the proud 
cryptomerias high up the hillsides to find temples which are 
poets' dreams of picturesque beauty, with lilting cascades all 
round them; and every crevice in the hills is filled with some 
purling stream, and every break in every wooded caiion flashes 



i6o IN LOTUS-LAND 

with some rainbowed waterfall. The *' Pitch-dark Cascade/' 
so called because of its sombre surroundings; the '* Back- 
View Cascade/' which leaps out so far from a cliff that one 
may walk behind and under the falling torrent; the ^* Mist- 
falling Cascade/' which slides down hundreds of feet of the 
mountain-side over slippery beds of rock — are but a few of 
them; but there are scores more^ and there are mountain 
views without end which are famous throughout the land. 

Nikko children are nothing if not lovers of nature. One 
day as I was going over the hills to the ** Mist-falling Cascade" 
I passed a pond by the wayside^ and two farmer's youngsters, 
whose combined ages could not have amounted to more than 
ten years, stood beside it uttering ejaculations of admiration 
at the simple beauty of a dewdrop nestling in the cup of a 
lotus-leaf, and shining in the brilliant sunshine like a gem. 
During another ramble I came across a group of little ones 
greatly delighted over a spider's web spun among some bamboo 
branches. The strands of the web were thickly covered with 
dew, and as the sun shone through the thousand tiny crystal 
globules it turned them into many-coloured opals. When 
rustic children of tender years take pleasure in such pretty 
glimpses of nature, one ceases to marvel longer at the dainty 
turn of Japanese art and design. 

Paradise of peace and restfulness as Nikko is to the traveller, 
he penetrates deeper yet into the mountains to find a summer 
resort such as European and American visitors love. 

Lake Chuzenji is eight miles from Nikko, and more than 
two thousand feet higher in the hills. The way lies by the 
river-bank for half the distance; then it rises far above it and 
creeps up the abrupt hillsides by a ^ig-2;ag pony path. The 
scenery along the route is some of the loveliest and most 
interesting in Japan. For the first few miles the road is broad 
and well-metalled, with a narrow-gauge tramway at one side. 
Once every day a train of flat cars, each drawn by a broad- 
backed ox, comes down the line, bearing heavy ingots of 
copper. The track is the property of the Ashio Mining Co., 
and is used for no other purpose than the transport of copper 



NIKKO AND CHUZENJI i6i 

to the railroad^ and of supplies to the mine^ which is a day's 
journey further up in the mountains* 

In the mossy shade of the cryptomeria-clad hillside^ by a 
cataract which rages madly down the river bed between enor- 
mous polished boulders^ a company of ancient Buddhas sit* 
Carved in stone^ they are mottled with the lichens of centuries 
and^ rapt in contemplation, they ga^e into the troubled 
waters as though in meditation on life and its afflictions* 
Formerly these images were so many that no two persons 
could ever agree as to their number, but of late years time 
has dealt roughly with them* Only a do^en or two of the once 
uncountable idols now remain, the others having been swept 
away by the maddened torrent during the storms which of 
late years have ravaged this district* 

The higher one ascends and the nearer one gets to Chuzenji 
the more magnificent are the views* The road is well beaded 
with tea-houses and tateba, or look-outs, at every point of 
vantage* As each traveller or pilgrim appears, bright-eyed, 
rosy mountain maids run to place a cushion on some rustic 
seat, or on the edge of the tea-house floor, and bring tea 
and dainty cakes, and a delicious peppermint sweetmeat — 3, 
speciality of this district — to stimulate the tissues for further 
effort, whilst enchanting views of distant waterfalls and 
lovely vistas of the gorges far below are a feast of beauty 
to the eyes* 

Through my glass I have seen many monkeys on the cliffs 
hereabouts, and once as I was coming down the road there 
was a loud crashing in the trees, and three great apes came 
swinging from bough to bough overhead* The Japanese saru 
is a pink-cheeked, comical-looking fellow, and is dearly beloved 
by native artists; but, like the Japanese cat, he has no tail* 

As the top of the pass is reached, the road plunges into an 
undulating forest, where the booming of a near-by cataract 
is heard* It is Kegon-no-taki, Chu2;enji's overflow, a chute 
of water which leaps over a precipice nearly a hundred yards 
in height* 

There are tea-houses and more tateba, with charming 



i62 IN LOTUS-LAND 

peeps of the fall through the maple trees^ and a path leads 
down almost to its foot^ amidst bewitching woodland scenery* 
In places the track burrows deep under dripping overhanging 
cliffs^ and once when I came this way in the depths of winter, 
when the snow lay a yard deep on the ground, these cliffs 
were fringed with colossal icicles and we had to make our way 
warily over the slippery path for fear of being precipitated into 
the gorge below* It was worth the arduous journey in the 
snow to see those icicles, but I made the trip in the hope of 
seeing this fine cascade locked in the arms of the frost king* 
In this I was disappointed, for there was only an insignificant 
cluster of icicles at the top of the precipice, and no other 
evidence that a great waterfall ever existed here* 

In spring, however, Kegon is a glorious sight* The cliff 
is a break in a bed of laminated lava strata, and the water, as it 
falls, sends up a mist which spreads wide in the bree2;es, and, 
catching the rays of the sun, forms brilliant rainbows to bridge 
the gorge with glowing arcs of colour* 

Near by are the ** White Cloud Falls,'^ where a hundred 
jets of water gush out of the middle of a still higher cliff to 
form perhaps the most curious cascade in Japan* 

Kegon is an ill-omened waterfall* Some years ago a youth 
inscribed a despairing poem on a tree and then cast himself 
into the vortex* This novel and spectacular method of de- 
parture for the Land of Shadows won for the suicide great 
notoriety, and such was the admiration of the students of 
Japan for his act that several hypersentimental youths quickly 
followed his example* It was found necessary to establish a 
police guard in order to discourage the vogue for this new 
fashion in self-destruction* 

The Lakeside Hotel, charmingly situated at the south end 
of the lake, near the Kegon fall, is one of the favourite foreign 
resident resorts of Japan* There are beautiful views from 
its gardens and verandas; and boating, picnic, and fishing 
parties sally out with well-filled lunch-baskets every morning 
to spend the day on the lovely sheet of water, or to explore 
the equally lovely woods — and the Chu2;enji woods are among 




NANTAI-ZAN AND LAKE CHUZENJI 



NIKKO AND CHUZENJI 163 

the most enchanting in all Japan* The cool blue lake^ lying 
mirror-like among the mountains^ is bordered with forests 
reaching to the loftiest heights ; and the trees are all festooned 
with moss^ and in spring are draped with purple wistaria 
clusters* 

Chu2;enji^s season is the hot months^ but the maples in 
late October make a wonderful display of colour^ and in May 
every hillside is scarlet with the a2;aleas which bla2;e amidst 
the forests* Few have seen Chu2;enji in winter^ for the hotels 
are closed and there is little comfort to be founds and the 
journey up the steep road in the snow is very arduous; but 
when I came here once in January^ the woodland — thickly 
carpeted with white^ with every branch of every tree filigreed 
against the winter sky^ as if in silver^ with the hoar frost 
— was every bit as beautiful^ if less gorgeous than in] its 
autumn garb* 

But even Chu^enji is not the last word of Nature in this 
district* The palm for subtle loveliness must be given to Lake 
Yumoto* Effort is asked of no one in these Nikko mountains 
without the promise of reward rich beyond one's hopes; and 
those who tramp eight miles higher and deeper into them will 
find the way bestrewn with scenic gems^ and at the journey's 
end one of the most beautiful little lakes imaginable* 

For the first half-hour of the walk the road skirts Chu^enji's 
waters under a bower of birch and maple branches; then it 
turns away to the ''Dragon's Head Cascade/' where^ from a 
tateba under the pine-trees^ one may feast one's eyes on as 
pretty a waterfall as Japan has to show* For wellnigh a quarter 
of a mile a mountain torrent^ on its way to join the near-by 
''River of Hell/' tumbles down a series of rocky ledges^ half- 
covered with moss^ and the trees leaning over the foaming 
stream are moss-grown too^ and in places meet to form sylvan 
arches overhead* 

A vast solitude^ the "Moor of the Battlefield" — so called 
because of a conflict that took place here in feudal times — 
must then be crossed* Great mountains tower above the 
forests which hedge the barren waste on every side* On the 

M 



i64 IN LOTUS-LAND 

right Nantai-^an reflects its image in the waters of a swamp^ 
and^ far over the western peaks^ the volcano Shirane-san, 
queen of all^ in height as well as beauty^ lacks but seventy 
yards of nine thousand feet of altitude* Miles away the forest 
is divided by a thin white line* It is Yu-no-tani^ a fine waterfall 
which slides^ a chute of snowy foam^ down a smooth bed of 
rock at an angle of 60° for over two hundred feet of perpendi- 
cular height* 

The road winds up the face of a steep hill to the head of 
the fall, and as the brow is reached Yumoto lake bursts into 
view in all its bewitching beauty* Small, and of an exquisite 
colour, the polished emerald of its unruffled waters mirrors 
every twig of every bordering tree, and every cranny of the 
sheltering peaks that guard this liquid jewel is reflected in its 
surface* Blue-green pines — mossy, mouldy, and splintered 
with age — lean over the water at every possible angle; and 
fat salmon-trout glide about in the limpid depths* 

Along the road skirting the bights and bays of its uneven 
shores are grand vistas of the ever-steaming Shirane-san and 
other encircling peaks* In July the banks are bordered in many 
places with a fringe of irises, and when I came this way one 
autumn, lake and mountains alike were splashed with all the 
colours of a painter^s palette* At the far end, which after all 
is not so very far, is Yumoto village* 

The water here is all steaming and discoloured from the 
numerous hot-springs which flow into it, or rise, bubbling, out 
of its bed* It is strange that in a lake so largely impregnated 
with sulphur, fish should be so plentiful* I have even seen 
them leaping amongst the vapours in the ** milky ^^ water at 
the northern end* 

Yumoto village is the resort of numbers of pilgrims 
who swarm to this district in the summer months to do 
the round of the sacred heights — adding a little to their 
balance of merit with the gods for each fresh holy peak they 
conquer* The pretty hamlet is all hotels and inns, and tea- 
and lodging-houses, and the whole place is malodorous with 
sulphurous fumes* 



NIKKO AND CHUZENJI 165 

The Yumoto air and hot-springs are very beneficial for 
skin and blood; and the visitors^ being apparently unable 
to permeate themselves sufficiently by breathing sulphuretted 
hydrogen into their lungs all day^ must needs also spend many 
hours soaking in the sulphur waters* For this purpose every 
inn has its dependent bath-house^ and the guests adjourn 
their conversation on the balconies only to continue it in 
these public tubs* 

The bathing arrangements are managed with an ingenuous- 
ness as natural as at villages much more remote from the 
beaten track; and men^ women^ and children throng the bath- 
houses all day long* Slipping off their garments^ the bathers 
drop into the water and soak a while; then they emerge^ 
and^ sitting on the edge^ cleanse themselves with bran-bags 
preparatory to another immersion* 

This process is sometimes continued for an hour or more^ 
and twice or thrice each day; and as the bathers soak^ and 
scrub themselves and each other's backs^ they chat with the 
casual stroUers-by who pause to gossip at the open doorways* 

There are grand excursions to be made into the surrounding 
mountain fastnesses^ with magnificent scenery everywhere* 
The ascent of Shirane-san is the finest^ but it is a roughish 
climb^ and should not be attempted without a competent guide* 

Nantai-^an, the holy mountain of Shodo Sh5nin's vision^ 
which is so prominent a feature of every landscape in this 
district^ is seen at its best from Chu^enji* From the eastern 
shore of the lake it rises to a height of 8150 feet^ and from 
this point it is almost as perfectly shaped a cone^ and as richly 
wooded to its summit^ as is beautiful Merapi^ one of the 
queenly volcanic peaks of Java* 

Nantai-%an ranks high among the sacred mountains of 
Japan^ and pilgrims swarm up its steep slopes by thousands 
every summer* Formerly a picturesque old Shinto temple 
at the lake-side marked the beginning of the ascent* Passing 
under the great torii^ the pilgrims made their contributions 
at the temple threshold^ prayed for strength to brace their 
muscles^ received the blessing of the priests and the temple 



i66 IN LOTUS-LAND 

stamp upon their garments^ and then slowly ascended the 
long flights of interminable steps leading to the crest of the 
defunct volcano and the goal of their desire^ 

But the year 1902 brought dire disaster to Chu2;enji, as it 
brought unprecedented ruin to Nikko* Rain fell for many 
days^ without ceasing^ that autumn, and the mighty Nantai- 
Z2in — a vast pyramid of loose ash and volcanic tuff — ^became 
so sodden with water that an avalanche broke loose well up 
towards the summit, and, gathering in volume as it fell, swept 
a wide path through the forest and bore straight down upon 
the ancient Shinto temple^ The priests at prayer heard the 
roar of the coming doom, but so swiftly did it fall that they 
had no time to fly to safety* They no more than reached the 
doors when the landslide was upon them, and temple, priests, 
and all were swept bodily into the lake, and buried in its limpid 
depths beneath thousands of tons of the holy mountain-side* 

This enormous mass falling suddenly into the water caused 
a huge wave to sweep the surface of the lake* Over the Kegon 
precipice leapt the flood, and then went raging down the valley 
of the Daiya-gawa, destroying all in its path, tearing the Red 
Bridge from its massive foundations, and carrying houses and 
great trees on its crest to scatter them along the river's bank, 
as driftwood, for a hundred miles or more* 

A few days after the first anniversary of this catastrophe 
I walked from Nikko to Chuzenji* The rain, which was falling 
as we started, became steadily heavier as we proceeded, and on 
reaching a little tea-house nearly half-way along the road, 
drenched through to the skin, we tarried awhile for some hot 
tea and sake* I noticed that the house was perfectly new, and 
that only an old woman and a little boy were in charge* On my 
remarking about the unusual severity of the storm the beldame 
burst into tears, and told me of that other dreadful tempest 
just a year before, when she and her daughter and her two 
grandchildren, a boy and a girl, were living here together* 
A peasant came along, on his way to Chu2;enji, and tarried for 
a cup of tea and to purchase a pair of waraji* Her daughter 
was in the house preparing the refreshment, and her little 



NIKKO AND CHUZENJI 167 

grand-daughter was tying the waraji to the old man's feet* 
She herself and her small grandson had gone a little way up 
the hillside to fetch some firewood* Suddenly the boy called 
her attention to a terrible and quite unusual sound that filled 
the air* It was like an angry growl^ growing momentarily 
louder^ and seemed to come from up the valley* Looking in 
that direction^ she saw a vast wall of water sweep round a bend 
in the river^ uprooting trees and sweeping rocks before it as 
though they were but weeds and pebbles* 

Before she could even shout to warn her dear ones of the 
perils the wave was upon her house* She saw the water smite 
it^ and the frail structure rise like a match-box on to the breast 
of the flood; in a moment more it was crushed and crumpled 
like an egg-shelly and her daughter and granddaughter, and 
the old peasant at whose knees the little girl was kneeling, 
together with everything the house contained — all she had 
and loved in the world except her little grandson — ^were swept 
away before her eyes* All was over in an instant* The water 
rose and passed on like a horrible dream, and when it had 
gone its way she rubbed her eyes to be sure she was not 
dreaming* But it was all, alas! too true* In that passing 
moment her little home had gone for ever* Kind friends, it 
seems, came to her assistance and enabled her to have a new 
house built, on the spot where the old one stood; for she 
could not find the heart to leave the place where she had lived 
so long and so happily, yet where in one awful moment she 
had been bereaved of all* 

Sad at heart at the old woman's recital of this tragedy — 
to which my coolies had listened with tears — ^we started out 
again in the blinding rain to climb the slippery road* Every 
minute the storm grew fiercer, and when we reached Chu^enji 
it had become almost a cloudburst* We put up at a native 
hotel within a hundred yards of the scene of the landslide 
of a year ago* 

All that night the storm continued unabated* There was 
not a moment's diminution of the deluge* The very heavens 
seemed to have opened* Neither I nor a Japanese friend who 



1 68 IN LOTUS-LAND 

was with me could sleep* We sat up all night, as also did the 
entire hotel staff;^ discussing the possibility of another landslide* 

The whole of the next day the storm never ceased for a 
moment, and the ensuing night it was even severer still; our 
fears lest another disaster might happen caused us a further 
sleepless night; indeed, sleep was out of the question for the 
rattle and roaring of the storm* And when the morning dawned 
and the skies began to clear, all of us felt greater relief than we 
cared to tell* 

The next morning Kegon was a marvellous sight* An 
enormous volume of water shot out over the top of the cliff 
and fell fully fifty feet clear of its base* The Daiya-gawa was 
a raging cataract, and when, a day later, we returned to Nikko, 
we found that irreparable damage had again been done* The 
road for a mile or more had been completely washed away, 
and the Ashio copper-mine track was a tangled mass of iron 
in the centre of the river* It was only possible to reach Nikko 
by taking a detour high along the hillside, and already nearly 
a thousand workmen from the mine were busy endeavouring 
to make a new route for the tramway* 

What the previous storm had left of the beautiful Dainichi- 
do gardens was now but a shapeless morass, with a forlorn 
stone lantern or miniature pagoda still standing here and 
there; whilst the river had cut for itself an entirely new channel 
at one place — a hundred yards away from its original course* 

Such are the storms which sometimes devastate this lovely 
mountain district* 




KEGON-NO-TAKI 



CHAPTER XI 

MATSUSHIMA AND YEZO 

Matsushima ranks in native estimation as one of the San Kei^ 
or ^* Three Principal Sights ^^ of Japan; but not every foreigner 
sees it with Japanese eyes, and the charm of the famous bay 
near Sendai is completely lost on those who go there for an 
hour or two, and rush away* Matsushima is one of those 
places which must be studied leisurely and in detail, and seen 
in this way it fully deserves its renown* 

As the name implies, it is an archipelago of pine-clad 
islands — on the east coast about two hundred miles north of 
Tokyo* It is said that there are no less than eight hundred and 
eight islands, all composed of soft volcanic rock which the 
erosive action of the waves has worn into most fantastic shapes* 
Each island is named; one, for instance, being designated 
** Buddha's Entry into Nirvana,*' whilst a little bunch of a 
do2;en is called '*The Twelve Imperial Consorts**' 

I arrived at Matsushima station one August morning, 
and took a rikisha for the village, distant about a couple of 
miles* As we passed a cutting between two hills my kurumaya 
suggested that I should walk to the top of one of them and see 
the view* I did so, and am glad that I first saw this beautiful 
place from so favourable a view-point* First impressions 
have a lasting effect, and though, in after years, I saw the 
island-studded bay under less favourable conditions, Mat- 
sushima always remains in my memory as I saw it on that 
August day* 

It was only a few minutes' walk to the top of the eminence, 
from which the view is famous as one of the fairest seascapes 
in Japan* The neat village lay close below, and a precipitous 

169 



170 IN LOTUS-LAND 

little island^ with sides as steep as the wall of a house, rose out 
of the sea not ten yards from the shore, to which it was con- 
nected by a rustic bridge* From among the pine-trees that 
covered it a temple peeped, and a line of sampans were anchored 
at the near-by quay* Scattered about the bay, in every direction, 
were other islands, seemingly painted on a mirror, for the 
surface of the sea was unruffled by a breath of air* Billows 
of cumulus clouds filled the skies, and here and there a boat 
sent long widening ripples across the water to prove that the 
scene was real* The summer chorus of the cicadas about me 
was a deafening pandemonium* Wee-wee-wee-wee-wee-wee-wee- 
weeeeeeeea! shrilled a thousand of them in the pine-trees, till 
my ear-drums seemed to whistle with the sound* Yet I love 
these noisy insects, for their song is always merriest when 
the weather is warmest and brightest, and Japan in bright 
weather is Arcadia itself* 

A Japanese dearly loves to see a foreigner appreciate the 
beauty of the land* He takes it as a personal compliment to 
himself* My kurumaya, who had come to the hill-top with 
me, chuckled with delight at my comments on the scene, and 
there were even tears in the old fellow's eyes* (I do not know 
any people so easily touched by a few appreciative words as 
the Japanese*) When we returned to the road, he had to 
recite all my remarks to his companion (who was waiting with 
the luggage), to the equal pleasure of the latter; and when 
we arrived at the inn my appreciation was reported by the pair 
of them to the landlord (with, doubtless, copious amplifications, 
judging by the time it took to tell), and the landlord retailed 
the story to the servants in a longer version still — so that I 
was persona grata with the lot of them just because of my 
favourable impressions of the place* 

I wasted no time in chartering a sampan, and we were soon 
under way to see the principal sights* For the whole of that 
day and the next we cruised about the calm waters of a smooth 
shining sea, visiting island after island, each more grotesque 
than the last, and exploring caves and natural arches and every 
whimsical freak that the sea could carve in stone* Each island 



MATSUSHIMA AND YEZO 171 

is crowned with a few pine-trees, even to the very smallest, 
which are but a few yards in area* How the pines grow is a 
mystery* Many of them appear to find subsistence in the 
solid rock, and every crevice is occupied by one or more* They 
grow at every angle, as often as not leaning down to the water, 
or hori2;ontally over it* 

Some of the islands have tea- and summer-houses on them; 
some are carved with Buddhas; one has long rustic bridges 
connecting it with the near-by shore; but the finest sight of 
all is the view from Tomi-yama* From this place on a clear 
day the prospect is one of the most famous in Japan* The sea 
bristles with islands and promontories, and the surface of the 
water is streaked with currents and tide-rips that change in 
colour with every hour of the day, whilst every cloud that 
floats over the bay alters the composition of the picture* The 
largest of the islands is the holy Kinkwa-2;an, which has been 
a Mecca to pious pilgrims for centuries; but the day I had 
planned to visit it was wet and stormy, and, though I waited 
for two days more, the storm only increased in violence, and 
I was reluctantly obliged to give up the trip, as I was bound 
still farther northwards — ^to the island of Yezo* 

As I crossed the sapphire Tsugaru Strait one hot, sunny 
September day, and saw the tiled-roofed, wood-and-paper 
houses of Hakodate nestling at the foot of the great Gibraltar- 
like rock known as The Peak, I decided that no other port in 
Japan was fairer or more inviting, not even the far-famed 
Nagasaki* 

The town was clean and neat, and business seemed to be 
in a thriving and prosperous condition; coolies were every- 
where, bustling about with bundles of cured fish, bags of rice, 
bales of dried seaweed, and other merchandise; and the bay 
was full of shipping* My entry into the Katsuta Inn confirmed 
the good impression already formed* It was immaculate in 
its cleanliness* My window looked out on to the harbour, 
which is a miniature Hong-Kong of activity; and if anything 
were needed to complete the fitness of the simile, the mountain 
towering above the town filled the blank, for it is but a small 



172 IN LOTUS-LAND 

edition of Victoria Peak^ which dominates Britain's South- 
China colony* 

It is well to drink in such beauty as one finds in the situation 
of Hakodate* The farther one penetrates into the island 
the more one becomes impressed with the fact that Ye^o 
is an untidy country — as inferior to the mainland as it 
possibly could be* 

Though the Tsugaru Strait is not more than ten miles 
wide at the narrowest part, it is exceedingly deep, and has 
severed the island of Ye2;o from Hondo, the Japanese main- 
land, for untold ages — ^if indeed these lands were ever joined 
at all* North of the Strait the fauna and flora are as different 
from those found south of it as if they belonged to widely- 
separated countries* We are told that there are no monkeys 
in Yezo, nor any pheasants; and that even the bears are of an 
entirely different species from those of the mainland* 

The singing birds are numerous and varied — a most re- 
markable thing, for the more temperate mainland can boast 
of only nightingales and skylarks — which latter are plentiful 
on all Japanese moors* 

My object in coming to this little-visited part of Japan was 
to see the Ainu, that strange, hairy race who were the aborigines 
of the land before the Japanese arrived and took it from them* 
The nearest Ainu settlements, however, are a hundred miles 
or so up the east coast, and this necessitated our embarking 
again on a small steamer for the port of Muroran — a place of 
little interest, which is reached in about nine hours* 

There are many places on the east coast near Muroran 
where colonies of Ainu are to be found, the largest of these 
being at Shikyu and Shiraoi* I was accompanied thither by 
a Japanese interpreter* On the way we turned aside for a day 
or two to visit the great solfataras of Nobori-betsu, which are 
among the most interesting natural phenomena of Japan* The 
large and comfortable hotel at which we put up was thronged 
with Japanese visitors, who come here to enjoy the curative 
properties of the mineral hot-springs* The water is piped to 
a long series of public baths, ranging in temperature from 




AT MATSUSHIMA 



MATSUSHIMA AND YEZO 173 

about 105^ F* downwards* These baths are very interesting* 
Here^ at any hour of the day^ one can study Japanese humanity 
of both sexes in a state of nature* The baths are the meeting- 
place for guests at the hotels^ and a convenient rende^ous 
for the villagers* All meet on a common footings man and 
woman^ youth and maid^ young and old^ rich and poor — and 
I was going to say dirty and clean; but the Japanese are never 
dirty — unless one include the Ainu, who are a separate race 
and type* 

Comfortably immersed to the neck, the sexes mingle 
together, and laugh and talk as freely and unrestrainedly, 
and with equal courtesy and etiquette, as in their own, or 
each other^s homes* 

It is some two miles to the solfataras, which are the crater 
floors of an exceedingly old, double-vented volcano, with 
towering precipitous walls, whose jagged, serrated ridges — 
burnt brilliant red — ^frame with weird grandeur and beauty 
the awful abomination of desolation of the sulphur-beds 
below* In all Japan one cannot find a more interesting example 
of a volcano which has destroyed itself than these solfataras 
of Nobori-betsu* The vividly-coloured walls are a striking 
object-lesson in geology* The lower lava bed is covered with 
several hundred feet of black ash and red pumice, which were 
ejected by the volcano for ages after the foundation of lava 
was formed* When later the heavy lava rose once more into 
the great cup, and filled it up to the brim, this unstable pile of 
loose tuff was broken down, and a terrible cataclysm must 
have occurred when the vast rent in the crater's western wall, 
over half a mile in length, was made* 

This self-destruction is in the end the destiny of most 
really old volcanoes* I use the word ''old'' in the geological 
sense* Fuji, for instance, is but a baby as volcanoes go, and, 
though called extinct, is merely dormant, as the steaming 
fissures on the lip would seem to testify* Fuji has not yet 
marred its beauty by bursting its crater's rim* 

On the north, south, and east sides of the Nobori-betsu 
volcano the abrupt, inflamed walls stand in a great half-circle 



174 IN LOTUS-LAND 

round the sulphur-mounds and the lakes of boiling sulphurous 
water^ which now cover the bed of what was originally a crater 
floor* The whole of this huge solfatara is honeycombed with 
great yawning cavities^ some of which emit fearful sounds 
from the seething cauldron below^ and belch forth vast columns 
of steam at terrific pressure* 

There are pools of soft^ sticky^ bubbling^ sputtering mud^ 
and cauldrons of boiling water as clear as glass; and there are 
fountains of boiling liquid mud^ and geysers of boiling water 
of crystalline purity^ spouting with equal ferocity but a few 
feet apart* There are great cavernous apertures^ twenty feet 
or more in diameter^ encrusted with lovely sulphur crystals 
— fragile as foam — and little holes^ not an inch across^ each 
adding^ according to its powers^ to the general pandemonium^ 
and imparting its tribute to the boilings sulphur-tainted river 
which springs from the crater^s hearty and flows hissings 
seething^ and steaming over the treacherous surface as though 
the eternal fires were but a few feet below* 

The noises of the place are as varied as the phenomena* 
Some of the holes emit a muffled murmur; others almost 
scream; whilst others again give out sounds of such fierce 
boiling as are truly harrowing to listen to* As we cautiously 
wended our way amongst these safety-valves^ over hills of 
flower-of-sulphur^ and pumice, and vermilion ash, carefully 
poking the ground with long sticks before venturing each 
step — for to break through the crust would have meant a 
hasty end — ^we came at length to a great hole which gave 
forth a most blood-curdling sound* As we approached, it 
breathed a deep sigh, and then sent out a wailing shriek, as 
if some subterranean demon were in agony* For a few 
moments both I and my Japanese friend stood rooted to the 
ground in consternation* To run would have been to court 
destruction by stepping on some weak spot in the treacherous 
crust* We did not know what was coming next* For my 
part I fully expected the ground to open and engulf us, or 
a boiling geyser of mud and sulphur to overwhelm us; and 
not till some minutes after the wail had died away into a sigh 



MATSUSHIMA AND YEZO 175 

and silence, did we realise that this was only another of the 
harmless, intermittent noises of this diabolical place* 

Curiosity would not be satisfied, however, till we had taken 
a look into the great hole from which this terrifying sound had 
come* We went to the edge, and as we stood by the gaping 
cavity it gave forth deep and regular sighs, as of some cyclopean 
creature breathing* Indeed, if we shut our eyes and listened, 
we could almost imagine there must be some great subter- 
ranean monster near at hand* It was a positive relief to open 
them again* 

We waited, fascinated, near the spot, and in half an hour 
the sound began again* More horrible than ever it was, as we 
now stood on the actual brink of the hole; but long before the 
scream had reached its climax, we had retreated as fast as the 
necessity of carefully choosing our footsteps would permit* 
We felt that this hole was not to be trusted* I have seen many 
volcanoes and solfataras in several lands, but never any other 
that emitted such truly horrible sounds as Nobori-betsu* 

According to the Ainu creed the world is governed by a 
Goddess of Fire* It is certainly not surprising that such 
simple, ignorant people — living in a land where there are 
such appalling manifestations of the devastating power pent 
up in the earth, and where such terrifying sounds issue from 
the ground amidst boiling mud and sulphur streams — should 
have had the fear of fire instilled into their hearts, and have 
formed the belief that the world is ruled by a deity whose 
abode is in such places* 

As evening drew nigh, swallows circled and twittered in 
thousands about the bastioned, bladng precipices, which 
glowed with every colour in the rays of the setting sun; and 
as we traced our steps homewards the tumult of the place 
lingered in our ears for a mile, like the roar of a rock-bound 
coast beaten by the angry waves of the sea* 

The next morning we left for our objective point, the Ainu 
settlement, and the nearer we approached it the more slovenly 
became the methods of the farmers and the condition of their 
millet crops* Although the fields are owned and worked by 



176 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Japanese^ they bear little semblance to the trim and beautifully- 
kept farms of the mainland ♦ 

We arrived at Shikyu at nine^ and put up at the most 
miserable apology for an inn that it has ever been my lot to 
stay at in any part of Japan* Yet it was the best the place 
afforded* Our arrival at this inn was the signal for the greater 
part of the inhabitants of the village to come and satisfy their 
curiosity by staring at us* This stare of the Ye^o Japanese is 
something which must be experienced to be appreciated* A 
man would place his face a couple of feet from mine^ and 
glare into my features with as much assurance and self-posses- 
sion as if he were regarding a poster on a wall* Apparently 
foreigners were not often met with in these parts^ judging by 
the intensity of the scrutiny to which I was subjected* 

It seemed that much difficulty was likely to be experienced 
in persuading the natives of the Ainu settlement^ which we 
were about to visits to be photographed* A coolie had been 
found to carry the apparatus, but it appeared that the man 
would not come unless his wife was engaged too* As they 
knew the Ainu well we took them both* The man unchival- 
rously proceeded to load his wife up with the heaviest packages, 
whilst he contented himself with a little case weighing about 
five pounds* I protested against this division of labour, but 
he declared that his wife was much stronger than he — ^though 
she was obviously a fragile little woman and he was as lusty 
a fellow as I ever employed* But I insisted on a more fair 
division of the loads* 

Then there was a further hitch, and my interpreter said, 
indicating the innkeeper: '*I have decided it is necessary to 
contract with this gentleman also; the Ainu are so spontaneous 
and will rebel to submit to the picture* He is the owner of 
this house**^ The last sentence was accompanied with a 
dramatic gesture* I cannot say that this commendation carried 
the weight with me that it was evidently expected to, and I 
inwardly breathed a prayer to the weather-god that he would 
not entail upon me the necessity of accepting the gentleman's 
hospitality longer than was necessary* 



MATSUSHIMA AND YEZO 177 

I soon found, however, how indispensable this man's 
services really were* I am firmly convinced that without his 
help it might have taken many days to secure a single photo- 
graph of these timid folk, for the Ainu prejudice against the 
**evil eye'* of the camera is deep-rooted, and cannot be over- 
come except by the judicious admixture of gifts and diplomacy 
— the one as necessary as the other* 

This man proved to be a most valuable assistant* For two 
days he was indefatigable in my interests, and when the time 
came to pay the reckoning I was quite unable to persuade him 
to accept anything for his services* Only with great difficulty, 
indeed, could I induce him to receive payment of our board 
bill* He maintained that it had been an honour to lend his 
assistance to any one who came for the purpose of learning 
about his country* I have met few like him* Humble 
as was his abode, and evil-smelling from the quantities of 
dried fish stored in it, yet he had a proud and generous 
spirit, and I doubt not sprang from stock that had seen more 
prosperous days* 

We then proceeded to the large Ainu village at Shiraoi, 
a few miles distant* My olfactory nerves were the first to 
apprise me that our destination was near at hand; the great 
distinguishing characteristic of an Ainu settlement is the stench 
of dried and rotting fish with which everything in it, and 
about it, is permeated* 

Three women were the first of the Ainu to put in an appear- 
ance* We met them just outside the town, carrying large 
bundles on their backs* They were young and good-looking, 
with rosy faces, and hair hanging round their heads to the 
shoulders; but their features were badly disfigured by broad 
moustaches tattooed on their upper lips — ^reaching almost to 
the ears* This is the prevalent custom amongst almost all 
Ainu women* The hair which grows so luxuriantly on the 
face of the Ainu man is lacking on that of the woman, so to 
supplement this deficiency the upper lip is tattooed* Some 
Ainu women are not content with submitting merely the lip 
to this disfiguring treatment, but have thick lines tattooed on 



178 IN LOTUS-LAND 

their forehead and arms^ and ugly patterns on the backs of their 
hands* These marks are considered by the Ainu greatly to 
enhance their beauty* 

After a consultation with the chief of the village — a fine- 
looking old man, whose long beard and shaggy locks were 
turning grey — ^we were conducted to the house of a prominent 
member of the community who lay on a bed on the floor, sick 
unto death* An old grey-bearded man, whose face was almost 
hidden with thick hair, knelt beside him, reciting prayers for 
his recovery, whilst many relatives sat round him on the 
earthen floor of the rude thatched hut* The dim light was 
just sufiicient to show the anxious expression on the faces 
of the silent figures, who indicated so plainly, by their quiet, 
gentle manners, the deep concern they felt* It was a sad 
initiation into the home life of these poor people, and respect 
for their feelings made me take a hasty leave, for I felt that 
the intrusion of a stranger at such a time was quite unwarrant- 
able* The few moments, however, that I tarried in the hut, 
and saw this little group of gentle, yet ignorant, uncivilised 
figures — gathered together in the sombre interior of a structure 
which in some lands would be thought scarcely fit for cattle 
— ^waiting for the approach of the Reaper whose harvest lies 
in every land and at every season, left a deep impression in 
my mind* My feeling turned from disgust at the animal-like 
condition in which these people live, to pity that any human 
creatures, dwelling amongst a highly-civilised race, should 
know nothing better than mere existence in such a state of 
degradation* Bare existence and sustenance seem to be the 
whole ambition of the Ainu, who are held in utter contempt 
by the clever, enlightened Japanese, and are left to work 
out their own salvation* The Japanese name for the Ainu is 
Aino, the literal meaning of which is mongrel* This arises 
from a Japanese tradition that the Ainu are the descendants 
of a race of creatures half man, half dog* Little consideration, 
therefore, can these humble people expect from their masterly 
conquerors* 

The huts in which the Ainu live are of coarse kaia-grass. 



MATSUSHIMA AND YEZO 179 

thatched with reeds* Each hut has two small windows — one 
on the east side^ one on the south* The east window is sacred, 
and outside it are placed offerings to the gods* At the west 
end is the door, and over it a hole in the roof is provided for 
the escape of the smoke from the fire, which is made on the 
ground near the centre of the hut* 

All Ainu dwellings are constructed in this manner* There 
are no neat wooden houses, such as the Japanese live in, for 
Ainu custom forbids any departure from traditional methods* 
Their huts are primitive, uncomfortable, dirty places, reeking 
with the odour of dried and rotting fish, which are hung in 
the roof* Nor are the people who inhabit them any cleaner, 
for they have none of that love of hot water which makes the 
Japanese, as a nation, the cleanest people in the world* 

Formerly the Ainu dressed in garments of wood-fibre, 
and many do to the present day; but Japanese cotton goods 
now largely supplant the native cloth* Men and women dress 
much alike, except that the patterns woven into the fabrics 
are quite distinctive in character for each sex* No man would 
ever wear the patterns used by women* When old, the women 
closely resemble the men in feature, saving for the lack of 
beard* With middle age comes ugliness, but many of the 
young girls are very comely* Men and women alike wear their 
hair about their shoulders in a thick, bushy, unkempt mass* 

The lot of the Ainu woman is not a happy one* Dirty, 
slovenly, barefooted, miserably clad, and disfigured by tattoo- 
marks, she subsists, a wretched drudge, to whom life holds 
out none of the pleasures and diversions known to the women 
of other parts of Japan* To her, life means naught but work 
from morn till night* Not only must she attend to all the 
household duties, but she must clean, smoke, and dry the fish; 
cut and pound out the millet; cut and carry from the forest 
the winter's supply of wood; dig up the fields and sow the 
crops; and such time as she can find to spare must be given 
to helping her lord and master, to whom she is little more 
than a slave* She has none of the little graces which distinguish 
other women of the East; the Ainu woman is a poor untutored 



i8o IN LOTUS-LAND 

savage^ unlearned even in the instinctive arts of Eve* But in 
common with her sex the world over, she loves jewellery ♦ 
Cheapest of metal though they be, she loves to adorn her 
scanty attractions with rings, sometimes on her fingers, some- 
times in her ears* And yet she has charms — that I had almost 
overlooked: she is gentle and submissive as a child, and 
her voice is low and musicaL 

The Ainu men are sturdy and well-built, averaging about 
five feet four inches in height* Their long, shaggy hair and 
bushy beards give them a patriarchal and even distinguished 
appearance* The hairiness of the Ainu has been grossly 
exaggerated by travellers* Only the faces of the men bear any 
excessive hirsute growth* In comparison with the sparingly 
moustached Japanese, they are, of course, a hairy race; but 
they are not more so than many Europeans* They are grave 
and taciturn, and laughter is almost unknown to them; though 
perhaps this is not strange, seeing that their mode of life offers 
little inducement to merriment* 

Drink is the great Ainu vice* Their appetite for the 
Japanese rice-distilled beverage sake is insatiable* ** They will 
not submit to the picture without provision for the sake feast* 
They are so spontaneous,*^ said my interpreter* With the 
Japanese fondness for long and ambiguous words, '* spon- 
taneous** appeared to be his adjective for expressing their 
shy and retiring nature* 

I therefore made provision for the feast, which consisted 
in purchasing a large tub of sake* In consideration of this 
present a selected number of the head-men of the village were 
prevailed upon to permit me to photograph them and their 
households as I pleased* When this was over, the feast began* 

Drunkenness being considered among the greatest of 
virtues, libations of sake are accompanied by the observance 
of much etiquette* The feast was held in the house of the chief 
of the colony, and three chiefs from neighbouring settlements 
were invited* Each wore a crown of seaweed, shavings, and 
flowers* Guests of lesser rank did not wear these, and women 
were not invited* As each took his place and squatted on the 



MATSUSHIMA AND YEZO i8i 

matting spread on the floor^ he saluted each of the others in 
turn by stroking his hair and beard* Host and guests sat in a 
circle^ and it was a picturesque spectacle, not without a touch 
of pathos — that group of patriarchal, shaggy-locked figures, 
squatting in the dim light of the hut, waving their hands 
and stroking their hair and beards before each bowl of sake 
was imbibed* 

The hut speedily became insufferable to me on account of 
the smoke from the fire, the stench of the fish in the roof, and 
the smell of the numerous people partaking of the feast or 
watching the feasters* Just over the fire — ^which burnt on a 
bare patch of ground, about three feet square, in the centre 
of the hut — ^there hung a wood canopy, the purpose of which 
seemed to be to distribute the smoke to all parts of the structure 
— ^which it did most effectively* The combined effect of the 
smoke and stench was so sickening that, though my nostrils 
had become fairly well accustomed to evil smells in the East, I 
was glad enough to forgo the pleasure of witnessing the end 
of the feast and to regain the open air* 

Hanging from a beam near the fireplace, so that plenty 
of warmth might reach it, was a cradle, and in the cradle was 
a baby, which steadily screamed throughout the time we were 
in the hut* How it managed to scream as it did was inexplicable 
to me* Any other but an Ainu child would have perished from 
suffocation by the smoke* No one soothed it, or paid it any 
attention whatever; nor did the guests show that they were 
conscious of its screaming* Seemingly it was allowed to cry 
itself to exhaustion and silence* This, my Japanese friend 
told me, is the Ainu custom* To permit a child to cry itself 
to sleep is to discipline it, and teach it the futility of such 
behaviour* 

Though I did not wait or desire to see the end of the feast, 
I heard that all who participated in the orgie were intoxicated 
to the point of insensibility* 

The interior of Ye2;o is largely virgin forest, where few 
but the Ainu ever penetrate* These wilds are the haunt of 
wild bears, which are becoming scarce* There is no meat the 



i82 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Ainu prize more than bear flesh* Among the feasters was a 
fisherman named Happu Konno^ whom I learnt was also one 
of the most famous bear-hunters in Ye^o* So striking in 
appearance was this man — so long^ and thick^ and shaggy his 
hair and beard — that I prevailed upon him to strip^ that I 
might secure a photograph of him* His body showed no 
superfluity of hair beyond that on many Europeans; nor was 
he of the muscular development of the Japanese; but he was 
firmly built and athletic^ as he needs must be to pursue his 
perilous calling* Whatever may be the shortcomings of the 
Ainu^ lack of courage in a bear hunt is not one of them* I 
heard from this man^s own lips^ through two interpreters^ 
his method of attack* 

The killing of a bear is looked upon by the Ainu as the 
greatest of all possible feats* The only weapons are a knife^ 
and a bow with poisoned arrows* With these the hunter is 
prepared^ if necessary^ to engage the bear single-handed in its 
lair* If he fails to induce it to come out by his cries, so that 
he may shoot it with an arrow, he clothes his body with a skin, 
and creeping into the bear's retreat, armed with his knife, he 
rushes upon the brute, and as it rises to embrace him, he 
endeavours to stab it to the heart* This, however, is an ex- 
ceedingly dangerous proceeding; so, if he sees an opportunity, 
as the surprised bear rises to fight he dodges under its 
forepaws and attacks it from the rear* This manoeuvre has 
the effect of inducing the bear to seek safety in flight, and as 
it emerges from the den, an assistant hunter discharges an 
arrow or two into its body* It is only a question of a few 
minutes till the poison does its work and Bruin is dead* 
If the flesh round the arrows be immediately cut out, the 
poison does not affect the rest of the meat* There are many 
hunters in Ye^o who will attack a bear in this manner, 
but such men are renowned for their courage* The use of 
poisoned arrows is now illegal, I was told, but nevertheless 
they are still used surreptitiously* 

The rivers of Ye2;o abound in salmon, especially in the 
season when they seek the fresh water to spawn* The Ainu 




Copyri,^ht H. C. ll'/iiu- Co. H.G.P. 

HAPPUKONNO, THE HUNTER (iN CENTRE), AND TWO AINU FISHERMEN 



MATSUSHIMA AND YEZO 183 

catch them by means of hand-nets^ and by spearing from 
dug-out canoes* One man stands in the rear to propel the 
canoe, whilst another stands at the bow, harpoon in hand* 
It is paddled down stream or kept stationary, and as a salmon 
approaches, the harpoon is let go, usually with unerring aim, 
and the fish is impaled* Harpoon fishing is also carried on at 
night* A torch is used to attract the fish, and as they are 
attracted to the unaccustomed glare, they fall easy victims 
to the spear* 

Although the Ainu have neither priests nor temples, yet, 
so says the Rev* John Batchelor, who has probably spent 
more time among them than any other foreigner, '*they are 
an exceedingly religious race* They see the hand of God in 
everything* Their great religious exercises take place on the 
occasion of a bear feast, removing into a new house, death 
and burial*'' 

Their religious nature is not patent to any casual visitor, 
but it needs little observation to reveal the deep superstition 
which governs all their actions* Their gods, of whom there 
are many, must be propitiated by offerings; these are to be 
seen everywhere, and consist of willow sticks, with the bark 
whittled into shavings, which hang in clusters* A number of 
these are placed outside the east end of each hut, and prayers 
are made to them each day* They are called inao, and may be 
seen by the seashore, or on the banks of rivers, and in other 
localities to which it is desirable that the deities who preside 
over such places should be petitioned to bestow special atten- 
tion* The inao ensures this* Offerings of deer and bear skulls, 
placed on sticks, are also looked upon with much favour by 
the gods* Hence those who have been fortunate in the chase 
make such an altar, and place it at the east end of the house* 
The willow wands may also be seen inside the house; and in 
case of sickness — if they are newly made, and stuck in the 
floor near the fireplace — they will ensure all possible aid from 
the Fire-goddess* This is about the extent of the assistance 
that the sufferer receives — the offering of inao, and the 
chanting of prayers* 



i84 IN LOTUS-LAND 

The Ainu have no arts or crafts^ literature or ambition^ 
and appear to have fewer claims to anything more than animal 
instinct than any other race in the East* Their numbers, it 
is said, are becoming less each year, and it is estimated that 
there are now not 15,000 remaining* 

If they should in course of time become extinct, their 
place will be taken by a race to whom humanity in general 
owes a greater debt* 



CHAPTER XII 

THE BAY OF ENOURA 

There is a village on the shores of the bay of Enoura — which 
lies between the Izn peninsula and the town of Numa2;u — 
that is very little known to foreigners* 

I do not believe a globe-trotter has ever turned aside to 
visit this place^ which is less than an hour's journey by rikisha 
from the main line of the Tdkaido* Certainly no tourist accom- 
panied by a guide ever went there* No Japanese cicerone 
would ever dream of piloting his employer to such a place^ for 
there are no curio-shops* Indeed^ there are no shops of any 
kind at all; and how dull the evening hours would be to Guide 
San if he missed that feeling of prosperity born of pondering 
on commissions earned from the merchants and curio-dealers 
whose establishments he has visited with his Danna San 
during the day! 

No^ the tourist will never hear of Shi^u-ura^ and Guide 
San will never turn a hair between Kod^u and Shi^uoka to 
show that there is anything of interest on the sea side of the 
train* He will tell all sorts of things about Fuji on the north 
— ^and of praise he could not say too much — ^but he will not 
mention Shi^u-ura^ or Ushibuse^ or Mito — not because he 
does not know about these places^ but because he considers 
it better his master should not know^ lest he might want to 
go there* 

As I have already said, Ushibuse can be reached in less 
than an hour from the Tokaido railway — ^from Numa^u 
station, to be exact — but a far more interesting way is to go 
there, as I once did, by a detour into the I^u peninsula* A 
branch line runs from Mishima junction, on the Tokaido, to 
Ohito, where we took a basha for Shu^^enji* A basha is a small 

185 



i86 IN LOTUS-LAND 

one-horse omnibus^ and this particular one was the cheapest 
method of travel I have ever found in Japan or elsewhere* It 
was a forty-minutes drive, yet I engaged the whole vehicle 
for 45 sen (about tenpence)* This was the regular tariff, and 
is a good instance of how prices shrink as soon as one gets off 
the tourist track* Near Fuji at least treble this price would 
have been demanded* We had just come from the east side of 
Fuji, where Yamanaka plain was two feet deep with snow; 
yet here — ^but thirty miles away as the crow flies — the weather 
was so warm that the visitors were basking in the sunshine 
in summer attire on the hotel verandas* 

The l2;u peninsula is the Riviera of Japan, and Shu^enji 
is its most sheltered and popular winter resort* I put up at 
a delightful native inn, the Araiya, where everything was in 
Japanese style* My room, which overlooked the Katsura- 
gawa, which flows through the town, was of the most imma- 
culate cleanliness* Its sliding doors were beautifully painted 
with a pair of flying peacocks, and the ornament in the place 
of honour was a piece of fossil wood resembling the mountains 
the old Chinese artists painted* It was curiously carved to 
represent a band of samurai attacking a fierce dragon which 
was issuing from a cavern near the top* 

From my windows a scene of constant interest could be 
observed in the river below — ^from early morn till midnight* 
A fine hot-spring rises in a rocky basin in the centre of the 
torrent, and an open bath-house is built around it — connected 
with the banks by narrow bridges* In this spring men and 
women bathe promiscuously* 

As I was having my lunch, shortly after arrival, two dainty 
little women stepped from the spring, where they had been 
bathing in the company of several of the sterner sex* They 
walked out on to the bridge, with their beauty innocent of 
any concealment, dried themselves in the sunshine, and 
then donned their clothes before the eyes of all the town 
— only no eyes in the town but mine were looking; for in 
Japan ^*the nude is seen, but never noticed,'^ as Professor 
Chamberlain puts it* 




THE PINES OF SHIZU-URA 



THE BAY OF ENOURA 187 

In Japan^ what custom sanctions the conventions approve; 
and in remote country districts^ even in these modern days^ 
modesty is no higher a virtue than cleanliness, and any exposure 
of the person for this necessary purpose is both pertinent 
and proper* Indeed, a few days before, at Kamiide, I saw a 
young man and a young woman, strangers to each other, and 
both guests at the same hotel at which I was staying, bathing 
together in a tub which was not more than two feet square 
and a yard high, and into which, after the man had entered 
first, it was barely possible for the girl to squeeze* The weather 
was so severe that any water splashed over on to the stone 
floor froze instantly; but they parboiled themselves and chatted 
and joked with each other for twenty minutes or more — ^whilst 
I was having a lonely bath at the other side of the room im- 
mersed to the chin in a two-foot tub of my own* When the 
lady had finished her ablutions she emerged, and sweetly 
bowing to what she could see of me above water, returned to 
her apartment, clad in nothing but her chastity — a somewhat 
scanty garment for so frigid a day* 

There is nothing of any particular interest at Shu^enji 
except the hot-springs, so next day I started out for Mito in 
a basha* The distance is about five miles, and the scenery is 
worthy of no particular comment until the end of the journey 
is reached* Indeed, the most interesting object on this journey 
was the basha-driver himself* He was one of the most extra- 
ordinary ^'characters*' I met in all Japan* He positively 
oo2;ed good nature from every pore* His questions, and com- 
ments, and sallies of wit never ceased until the journey's end, 
except for the moments when he drew a few whiffs from his 
pipe, which he did frequently* Each time he refilled it he 
knocked the hard fire-ball of ash, which remains in the pipe 
when Japanese tobacco is smoked, into the hollow of his palm, 
lit the fresh fill from that, smoked it out in three or four puffs, 
and then repeated the process* How he could hold a ball of 
glowing fire in his hand puzzled me* I tried it myself, but had 
to drop it in a twinkling, much to his delight, and he rolled 
about on the box so much with laughter that he nearly tumbled 



i88 IN LOTUS-LAND 

off^ and the horse^ taking fright^ bolted down a hill and landed 
us all in a ditch* But there was no harm done^ fortunately^ 
and we soon had the light vehicle out again^ and in due 
course arrived at Mito^ where I paid him off* I was sorry 
indeed to see the last of him^ for my heart warmed to this 
simple^ happy^ contented soul; but at Mito we had to take 
to the sea* 

Mito is a fishing village on the shore of a little sheltered 
bay^ with rugged precipitous cliffs almost surrounding it* A 
wonderful island stands like a guardian sentinel at the mouth 
of the bay^ as pine-clad as the isles of Matsushima; and 
white-winged sampans sailed on either side of it, whilst many 
others lay alongside the stone jetty, or were beached on the 
sandy shore* In all Japan I have seen no prettier little fishing 
port than Mito* 

Mito Bay is an arm of Enoura Bay, which in turn is part of 
Suruga Bay — the eastern part, lying between the Izn peninsula 
and the mouth of the Kano-gawa, a river which runs into the 
sea just beyond Ushibuse* The whole of this coast-line is 
weirdly beautiful, and its charms have been perpetuated 
in every form of art* 

We engaged a sampan to take us round to Shi^u-ura* It 
was a stout, seaworthy craft, made out of natural-finished 
wood, in which not a single nail was used — ^the planks being 
fastened together with wooden pins — ^yet the sendo assured 
us that it would weather the roughest storms the wind could 
blow* The crew consisted of an old man and his son, splendid 
specimens of hardy humanity both, and typical members of 
the class from which the Japanese tars are recruited* They 
were gentle and kindly of manner and courteous of speech, as 
becomes men who might well be the reverse, seeing that their 
life is a constant battle with the elements* Danger is but too 
often the portion of the fishermen on these seas, where a cloud 
no bigger than a man's hand may be but the precursor of a 
typhoon, which, long before their craft can make land, breaks 
and scatters death and destruction in its wake* More than once 
I have read in the papers in Japan, after a sudden storm, that 



THE BAY OF ENOURA 189 

an entire fleet of fishing-craft had been lost^ and their crews 
drowned to a man* 

There is no more interesting class in Japan than the fisher- 
folk* Their customs and methods differ from place to place 
round the coasts as widely as though they belonged to different 
countries* They are the first inhabitants one sees on visiting 
the land, and the last on leaving it; and, if the coast-line be 
followed much, they are continually in evidence during one's 
stay* Like most seafaring people, the world over, they are 
superstitious, and the legend connected with their craft is 
voluminous* 

Offerings of old parts of vessels are freely made by them 
to the sea-gods, as such things are very propitiatory, and in 
return the gods send fine weather and direct the fish into their 
nets* Fishermen who have had the misfortune to be wrecked 
hang tablets in the temples, and offer the gods such relics of 
the ship as have escaped destruction* 

Worship at a Shinto temple before setting out is very 
advisable, and aids in securing a good catch; but should a 
Buddhist priest be met with on the way, bad luck is likely, 
as the bonzes do not eat fish* At least they are not supposed 
to, but they do! 

No worse-omened incident can befall a fishing-craft than 
that a bucket should fall from it into the sea and sink, for sooner 
or later the evil spirits that live in the ocean depths will use 
the bucket to pour water into the vessel and founder it* A cat 
must invariably be carried on a deep-sea fishing junk, as cats 
have the power to repel these spirits* Should the cat be spotted 
or piebald, the greater is its virtue; and the more colours 
there are in the cat's coat, and the wider the contrast in these 
colours, the higher is its value as a mascot* 

I have spent many an interesting day studying the fisher- 
folk and their curious methods* On one occasion, attracted 
by a group on the shore, I found that two large tubs of white- 
bait had just been brought in from a junk* The fish were very 
small and uniform in size, being little over an inch in length* 
The master of the junk stood by, his hands drawn up into the 



igo IN LOTUS-LAND 

capacious sleeves of his kimono* Around him were four or 
five individuals who plunged their arms deep into the tubs 
and then stood for a moment or two with brows knitted in 
thought* Each^ in turn^ then put his two hands up the junk- 
owner's sleeves; but the face of the latter was blanks and gave 
no indication of what this pantomime meant* No words were 
spoken^ but I quickly guessed the meaning of it all* Each was 
a buyer making a bid for the fish^ of a sum unknown to his 
competitors^ by placing in the owner's hands as many fingers 
as he was willing to pay yen for the lot* When all the bids were 
in^ the highest offer was accepted^ and the tubfuls changed 
hands for the sum of eight yen (sixteen shillings)* 

Our old boatman's granddaughter — a little brown-eyed 
lass of nine — came down to see us off^ with her baby brother 
on her back* They were the children of the younger 
man and father and son alike were delighted when I 
made a hasty photograph of the little maid and told them 
I would show the picture to some of my small friends 
in England and America* 

As we sailed out of the harbour I noticed that the eminences 
of the cliffs had bamboo platforms built in the highest branches 
of the trees* These are called uomi^ or *^ fish outlooks*" When 
a school of magaro^ or bonito^ enters the bay^ a watchman takes 
up his position in each of them* From these vantage-points 
he can see a long way off, and also down into the clear water, 
and observe the movements of the fish* At a distance the 
location of the fish is known by the colour of the water; they 
come in shoals which make dark patches in the sea* By signals 
the look-out men then direct the movements of the fishermen, 
who have proceeded out into the bay to surround the shoal 
with nets* The nets for this work are of great length and 
made of rope, for the magaro sometimes runs to several hundred 
pounds in weight, and would easily tear its way through 
anything lighter* Directed by the look-out men, the fishermen 
then draw the nets gradually closer to the shoal until the fish 
are driven into the narrowest portion of the bay, across the 
entrance of which the nets are fixed, and the quarry imprisoned* 




A FISHERMAN S CHILDREN 



THE BAY OF ENOURA 191 

They are then caught^ and shipped to Tokyo and other cities 
as the market demands* 

The magaro is immensely esteemed by the Japanese* It is 
a tunny-fish^ not unlike a monster mackerel^ and is cut in 
the thinnest of slices and eaten raw* The coarse red flesh of 
the magaro is full of small parasitic worms^ but this appears 
to be no objection to the native palate* I have never been able 
to face this dish myself^ nor have I ever met any foreigner who 
could; but some of the daintier fish that are served raw in 
Japan are really very nice* The magaro season is from March 
to August^ and during these months the Enoura fisher-folk 
subsist entirely by this traffic* 

We sailed slowly along over the waters of the bay^ as the 
wind was very light, and it finally dropped altogether as we 
drew near Shi2;u-ura* Then the boatmen took to the yulos 
and swung us along at a splendid pace* This method of pro- 
pelling a boat is productive of astonishing speed* The craft 
was large enough to hold twenty people comfortably, yet two 
men sped it onwards at a good four miles an hour or more* 
As they yuloed they sang a monotonous chant* Japanese 
boatmen are always able to put much more ^*back'^ into their 
work when they accompany it with the elementary rhythm 
of such simple chants* 

When the wind dropped the water became perfectly calm, 
and so crystal clear was it that we could see objects on the 
bottom, ten or fifteen feet below us, without being conscious 
of any water intervening at all* We seemed to be floating 
on air* 

Huge shell-fish, called awabi, are found in the bay* They 
are easily discovered in water thirty or forty feet deep by means 
of glass-bottomed tubs, through which the sea-bed can be 
minutely scrutinised* When an awabi is located, it is dis- 
lodged by means of a long bamboo with an iron hook at 
the end* This mollusc has immense muscular power, and it 
is by no means a simple matter to capture it, even when 
found; it is a univalve, and clings with incredible tenacity 
to the rock* 



192 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Shi2;u-ura is the name of the long stretch of sandy beach 
which bends like a bow from a promontory on Enoura Bay 
round to the village of Ushibuse* A forest of weather-beaten 
pines straggles almost to the water's edge^ their tortured 
trunks clutching the ground like great claws^ as they lean 
shorewards^ strained to impossible angles by the sea winds 
which blow the sand from their roots* 

As our boat was beached^ stern firsts on this lovely strand^ 
there were reasons enough apparent all round us why its en- 
chantment should have been sung by every Japanese poet* 
The very tiniest of wavelets lapped the silver sands^ and in 
the golden sunshine each crystal ripple^ as it broke, became a 
row of rainbow opals* Little children in gay kimonos — the 
children of the rich — ^were playing at the water's edge, and 
in the distance the snowy crest of Fuji hung from the blue 
sky over the deeper blue of the ocean* 

Cheery little maids came running down the beach to greet 
us, and carried my packages up to the hotel embosomed in 
the pine-trees — the H6y5-kwan, one of the finest and best- 
appointed native houses I have ever stayed at in Japan* As 
soon as I was settled in my room the host and hostess came to 
pay their respects* As they entered, they bowed their heads 
with much ceremony to the mats, for the most scrupulous 
etiquette is observed in this favourite resort of the aristocracy 
of Tokyo* There was none of that free-and-easy manner 
which characterises one's reception at Japanese hotels in 
*' foreign style*" They sat and talked to me in the most re- 
spectful honorifics, whilst I sipped a cup of yellow tea and 
nibbled at the cakes which are always brought immediately 
to the room as soon as a guest arrives* When I told them that 
my mission was to illustrate and write of the scenery and 
customs of the country, they expressed their pleasure in 
phrases of delight, and begged leave to bring and present to 
me some of the other guests who were staying there* So 
that evening I entertained a number of visitors by showing 
them photographs I had made of various countries* None, 
however, interested them so much as those of Japan* 



THE BAY OF ENOURA 193 

Nothing pleases a Japanese more than to find that a foreigner 
can appreciate and love this beautiful land as much as he 
does himselL 

Near the hotel the Crown Prince has a palatial residence^ 
with spacious walled-in grounds deep in the heart of the pine 
woods, to which he retires each summer from the heat and 
cares of state of the capitaL It would be difficult indeed to 
find a more secluded, restful spot, or one more replete with 
sea-girt beauty^ 

This Ushibushe pine grove is far finer than the famous 
Mio-no-matsu-bara, twenty miles across the bay* Among the 
weather-beaten old trees — all bent and twisted by the winds 
that blow — the peasants, with bamboo rakes, scour the ground 
for the needles which are always dropping from the branches; 
these they take home to be used as fuel to start their charcoal 
fires* The sun by day, and the moon by night, play strange 
shadow-pranks amidst the tortured trunks, and the bree2;es 
murmur softly in the branches to the accompaniment of the 
waves beating on the near-by shore* 

Shi^u-ura's beauty is mutable as the weather^s moods, 
and one day — ^when I was out in a boat, peering down into 
the depths trying to catch awabi — I found that the sea was 
all alive with pretty nymphs* The sunlight, glinting through 
each surface ripple, was decomposed as by a prism, and the 
rays that pierced downward through the crystal water turned 
the ocean bed into a garden of Nereus, in which the rainbow 
colours, that danced among its plants and rockeries, were 
the Nereides, the Sea-god*s daughters* 

My old sendo was as delighted as I with the sight, for my 
pleasure warmed anew his interest in a spectacle with which 
long familiarity had bred unconcern* He searched out beau- 
tiful and still more beautiful spots, till he came to a rugged 
little island* Here he bade me step ashore, and, beckoning 
me to a crevice in the face of the rock, said, ''Honourably 
glancing deign, sir master*'" 

I followed, and found a peep-hole, worn by the erosion of 
the waves* Through it there was an exquisite vista of Fuji 



194 IN LOTUS-LAND 

and the pine-clad strand^ framed roughly by the rock — a. view 
made classic by Hiroshige half a century ago» 

** It is the * Shi^u-ura Fuji/ sir master/* said the old man, 
and the pride glowing in his face told me that in native esti- 
mation this was the climax of Enoura^s wonders^ 




GREETINGS IN THE OLD GARDEN AT KINKAKUJI 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 

In no other city of Japan have Nature and Art scattered their 
favours with such lavish hands as in the old-time capital, 
Kyoto* After years of travel in many lands, I look back 
upon Kyoto as one of the most picturesque and fascinating 
cities I have seen* 

Many are the happy weeks I have spent roaming amongst 
its grey old temples; exploring the surrounding woods; 
rambling over the hills that half encircle the old city; searching 
its innumerable pottery- and curio-shops; shooting the rapids 
of the lovely Katsura river; visiting the homes of famous 
artist-craftsmen; viewing seas of cherry-blossoms or gorge- 
ously coloured maple-trees — and in a hundred other ways 
storing up memories that have left this enchanting old city 
dearer than any other to my heart* 

Many a time, too, I have seen old-time religious and feudal 
processions pass along its quaint old-fashioned streets, taking 
one back in spirit to the days, not half a century gone, when 
Japan had as yet made no endeavour to fall in line with even 
the least of the Powers of the world* 

My first impressions of Kyoto were not reassuring, for the 

station is in an uninteresting part of the town, and the houses 

seemed devoid of interest as I passed them on the way to the 

Miyako Hotel* But as my kurumaya drew me farther along, 

the feeling of disappointment gave way to interest, and then to 

pleasure, as he entered a street in which every house seemed 

to be a curio-shop, and where the crowd was so thick that he 

could scarcely make his way* A great matsuri was being held 

— the yearly festival of a near-by temple* Stalls lined the 

thoroughfare for the sale of every kind of article, and scores 
o 195 



196 IN LOTUS-LAND 

of vendors had not set up stalls at all^ but had merely laid 
their wares upon the grounds 

The street blazed with the light of innumerable paper 
lanterns and oil lamps; and by their coloured glare I could 
see silks^ pottery^ bronzes^ brasses^ beautiful boxes^ and a 
thousand other dainty things and curios peeping out from a 
perfect forest of dwarf trees^ There were tiny maples^ and 
pines^ and wistarias^ and peach- and plum-trees^ and many 
others; but the bulk of these Lilliputian arboreal wonders 
were cherry-trees^ whose branches^ pink with blossoms, 
drooped over the pots, in which the trunks from which they 
sprang were gnarled and grizzled as veterans of the orchard, 
and, though scarcely a foot in height, were often more than 
two-score years of age* Among this pretty scene of lanterns 
and flowers the gay kimono of many a geisha was a dash of 
colour in the crowd, and the whole street was full of holiday- 
makers, seemingly without a trouble in the world* 

It is characteristic of the gentleness of the nation that all 
these dainty, delicate things could be displayed by the owners 
in the open street, and even on the ground, amongst a throng 
of people and passing vehicles* 

I learnt later that my kurumaya, spotting me as a new 
visitor, had specially gone a little out of his way and sought 
that crowded street for the sole purpose of giving a new-comer 
the pleasure of a pretty spectacle* Innumerable little acts of 
thoughtfulness such as this, during my three years of travel 
in Japan, come back to mind, and help to deepen my affection 
for that charming country* 

The Miyako Hotel is situated high on the slopes of Higashi- 
yama, ** The Eastern Mountain,"' and a lovely panorama lies 
before it* Far below are the tiled roofs of the city* It is the 
Awata district, one of the most famous centres of the world 
for high-class pottery and enamel* To the south, standing out 
in brilliant red amidst the grey house-tops, are the main gate 
and wing turrets of Tai-kyoku-den — most modern of Japanese 
temples* Directly in front there is a thickly-wooded hill, with 
the beautiful buildings of the ancient Kurodani monastery 




Copyright Underwood &• Underwood. 



INTERIOR OF A BUDDHIST TEMPLE 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 197 

peeping between the pines; and northwards^ Nan^enji temple 
struggles to show itself from the dense foliage surrounding it* 

All round the valley there are forest-clad hills^ and as the 
sun sets over Arashiyama^ ** The Storm Mountain/' — the beauty 
of which has been sung by poets for ages — the deep note of a 
mighty bell breaks on the air. It is the voice of the Chio-in 
temple colossus proclaiming to all that the sun has run its 
course^ and that the day is done* Softly for a moment the 
vibrations tremble in the air^ and then come swelling out in 
volume through the trees* Quivering waves of sound go 
surging over the town^ and the hills catch up the booming 
note and throw it to each other^ until valley and mountain are 
all throbbing and echoing with the sound* It seems to come 
from everywhere* It is in the air above and in the earth beneath^ 
and a full minute or more lapses ere the undulations tremble 
away to silence^ seeming to bear a message to all corners of 
the land from the ponderous lip of bron2;e* 

This bell is one of the largest in the worlds and hangs in 
a belfry in the grounds of the Chio-in temple^ a grand old 
monastery of the Jodo Buddhists on Higashiyama* The broad 
and spacious approaches of the temple are gravelled avenues^ 
with pine and cherry-trees spreading their branches wide 
overhead; and a vast terrace lies in fronts from which a flight 
of stone steps leads to the great two-storied entrance gate — 
one of the finest in Japan* It is a typical piece of the purest 
old Buddhist architecture^ over eighty feet in height^ with 
beams^ ceilings^ cornices and cross-beams all deeply carved 
with dragons and mythical creatures^ and decorated with 
arabesques in colours* Again^ long flights of steps lead higher 
up the wooded hillsides to the plateau where the temple 
buildings stand* 

As the top is reached^ great flowing lines appear — the 
splendid curves of heavily-tiled roofs^ sweeping upwards far 
above the massive pillars that support them^ and the sur- 
rounding tree-tops* Great halls and little halls and pavilions 
meet the eye everywhere* At the threshold of the main build- 
ing streams of pure water flow over the scalloped edge of a 



198 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Brobdingnagian lotus-bloom of bronze into a granite trough, 
at which the worshippers cleanse all impurities from their lips 
and fingers before entering the sanctuary. Inside the massive 
doorway a priest sits all day long^ from dawn till dark, and 
from dark till dawn, mechanically tapping a drum; and every 
few hours the automaton is relieved and another takes his place. 
These drum-tappers are very old, with heads shaven as clean 
as the parchment of the drum they beat. 

A forest of pillars, polished like bron2;e, raise their tops 
high to support the massive beams and rafters, and the chancel 
is all aglow with gold and rich embroidery. At the hour of 
Mass a hundred Buddhist priests, clad in flowing vestments 
of silk and rich brocades of every colour, file in and settle 
on the padded mats before their lacquered sutra-boxes. Gong- 
beats punctuate their chants, and incense fills the air as the 
smoke curls upwards from the altar censers, and the whole 
scene is of bewildering beauty — a kaleidoscope of colour. 

Chio-in^s fine old buildings are rich in works of art. lemitsu, 
most peace-loving of the Shoguns, built the priests' apart- 
ments; and the sliding screens that form the walls are em- 
bellished with masterpieces from the brushes of many famous 
artists of the Kano school. Among the best examples are the 
fusuma, or sliding doors, of a little room of eight mats, decorated 
by Naonobu with plum and bamboo branches. In the next 
room Nobumasa painted some sparrows **so lifelike that they 
took wing, leaving only a faint impression behind'"; and a 
pair of doors, painted with pine-trees by Tan-yu, were such 
faithful reflections of nature that resin exuded from their trunks. 

A curious feature of Chio-in is the floors of its verandas 
and corridors. They are made of keyaki wood, the boards 
being loosely nailed down, so that, as one walks over them, 
they move slightly, and in rubbing against each other emit a 
gentle creaking sound. The sound is very pleasing, and so soft 
and musical as to suggest the twittering of birds. These floors 
are called by this most poetical of people, uguisu-bari, or 
'* nightingale floors,'' and they certainly add greatly to the 
fascination of the temple. 




Copyright Underwood &' Under-wood. 



THE GREAT BELL AT CHIO-IN TEMPLE 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 199 

A pavilion in the courtyard contains the great belh It was 
cast in 1633; it is ten feet eight inches high^ with a diameter 
of nine feet^ and weighs seventy-four tons^ For exactly a 
century this monster sound-maker was peerless among the 
bells of the worlds till in 1733 the '' Czar Korokol/' the '* Great 
Bell of Moscow^'* was cast* This bell^ however, is said never 
to have been hung, and stands in the Kremlin grounds useless, 
with a large piece broken from its side — a, disaster which 
occurred in a fire a few years after it was made, and not, as is 
generally supposed, during the burning of Moscow in i8i3* 
The Chio-in bell can now only claim second place among 
Japanese bells, as in 1903 a bell was cast at the Tennoji temple 
at Osaka which weighs over two hundred tons; it is twenty- 
four feet high and sixteen feet in diameter* 

Others of the great bells of the world are that at the Daibutsu 
temple in Kyoto, which is fourteen feet high and weighs 
sixty-three tons; and the bell at Nara, a dozen miles away, 
is thirteen feet and six inches high, and weighs thirty-seven 
tons* The '' Great Bell of Mingoon,'' Burma, is conical-shaped, 
twelve feet high, and sixteen feet in diameter at the lip* It is 
reported to weigh eighty tons, but the impression I gained 
was that this was an exaggeration* The next in order are the 
Ta-chung-tsu bell at Peking, which hangs in a temple outside 
the Tartar Wall, and another of equal size which is suspended 
in the Bell Tower in the centre of the Tartar City* These bells 
are two out of five — each eighteen feet high and ten feet in 
diameter — ^which were cast about the year 1420, by order of 
the Emperor Yung Loh* They are said each to weigh about 
fifty-four tons* Two more of the bells are in other temples 
near Peking, while the fifth is at the Imperial Palace* Another 
monster which holds a foremost place among the bells of the 
world hangs in a pavilion in the centre of the city of Seoul, 
the capital of Korea* These Oriental bells are never sounded 
by a tongue, but by means of a suspended tree-trunk, which is 
swung and brought sharply into contact with the lip* 

The sounding of Chio-in's great basso is accompanied by 
some picturesque ceremony* The chains that hold the heavy 



200 IN LOTUS-LAND 

log are unlocked^ and a gang of some do^en coolies man the 
hand-ropes hanging from the suspended beam.^ and commence 
a chant in unison as they set it a-swinging. When a certain 
line is reached^ they strain upon the ropes, and bring the bole 
against the chrysanthemum crest on the bell with all the 
strength that they can muster* A muffled roar springs from 
the monster as the burred edge of this battering ram opens its 
lips, but the roar quickly turns to soft, musical reverberations 
that go singing over the city, and slowly purr away to silence* 
The beam is checked ere it can strike again from the rebound, 
and the chant continues for some minutes before another 
booming note is sent forth to awake the echoes in the hills 
and dales* 

Higashiyama^s slopes are densely wooded with pine and 
maple-trees, and in spring-tim.e the greenery of the forests is 
everywhere the ground-work for an embroidery of cherry- 
blossoms* From these lovely woods at least a do^en temples 
peep* Chio-in is the grandest, and Kiyomi^u-dera the most 
picturesque* 

To Kiyomi2;u, one must pass along Gojo-zaka, a narrow 
street that is a bazaar of toy and pottery shops, and shops 
whose whole fronts are curtained with long strings of dangling 
sake-bottles, made from gourds; and there are curio and wood- 
work shops, and shops where only knives and blades are sold* 
One may purchase here a cherry walking-stick, with a blade 
concealed in it that will cut through half a do^en copper coins 
without dulling its edge, and the old shopman — ^the very 
incarnation of Hokusai's sketches — ^will apply the test before 
he accepts the small sum he courteously demands* Gojo-zaka 
is the centre of the porcelain-maker^s art* At Seifu's, Nishida's, 
Kan2;an^s, or a do2;en other shops, one may see exquisite 
specimens of the beautiful blue-and-white porcelain of Kyoto, 
known as Kiyomi^u ware, offered at prices so wholly inadequate 
for the art with which they are embellished, that few visitors 
passing along this street ever reach the temple till long after 
the hour they have planned for* 

Along this fascinating thoroughfare the stream of humanity 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 201 

which flows to the popular old temple ceases only for the still 
night-hours^ and the ancient capital offers no better oppor- 
tunities for leisurely studying human nature than on this 
interesting street* 

The hillside is very steeps so steep indeed that many of 
the buildings of the sanctuary — so ancient that its origin is 
lost in legend — do not rest on the ground^ but are supported 
on a scaffolding of massive beams and piles* Amongst its halls 
and colonnades^ turreted pavilions and pagodas^ one can find 
fresh beauty at every visit; and each balcony discloses new 
and lovelier vistas of the old-time capital below* 

The temple is one of the ^* Thirty-Three Places'' (Saikoku 
San-ju-san Sho) sacred to Kwannon^ Goddess of Mercy^ in 
the provinces near Kyoto* These are all numbered^ and 
Kiyomi2;u is the sixteenth on the list* The shrine of the goddess 
is opened but once in thirty-three years — ^so the chances are 
somewhat against the casual visitor having the privilege of 
paying respect to the deity* Her ** Twenty-Eight Followers/' 
personifying the twenty-eight constellations known to the 
ancient astronomers of the East^ stand on either side of the 
shrine; and at each end of the dais are two of the four 
^* Heavenly Kings/' or Shi-Tenno^ who guard the world 
against attacks of evil* They are Tamon^ Komoku^ Jikoku^ 
and Zocho^ and they defend respectively the Norths Souths 
East, and West* 

One of the lesser sights of Kiyomi2;u, but a truly pathetic 
one, is a shrine to Ji2;o — the guardian god of Japanese children* 
It is a mere . shed containing some hundred stone images 
decked with babies' bibs — relics of their little dead which 
mothers bring as offerings* Women are always to be seen 
before this shrine praying earnestly for the souls of their little 
ones* It is a sad, depressing spot, and I always turned away 
from it heavy-hearted at the spectacle of those bereaved mothers 
and their silent grief* 

Outside of the hondo, or main temple, there is a dilapidated 
old idol sitting on a stool* He is a queer old fellow, with 
features defaced and almost obliterated with much rubbing* 



202 IN LOTUS-LAND 

His name is Bin^uru^ and his history is interesting^ for he is 
a deity with a '*past/' He was originally one of the Ju-roku 
Rakan, or ** Sixteen Disciples of Buddha/' and had the power 
to relieve all the ills of the flesh* The mantle of his holy state 
did not^ it seems^ subdue his human nature; for one day he 
gave his nearest companion a dig in the ribs and remarked on 
the beauty of a woman passing by* For this imprudence the 
susceptible saint was expelled from the fraternity; so Binisuru's 
image is always seen outside the sanctum^ whilst his brother 
disciples are placed inside it* He is^ however, exceedingly 
popular with the lower classes, who believe that by rubbing 
any portion of his image they will obtain relief from ailments 
afflicting the corresponding portion of their own persons* 
Hence his face and limbs are polished smooth, and almost 
worn away in places by centuries of such friction* 

Many an evening I went to the old temple at sunset to 
admire the beauty of the view* The flaming vermilion pillars 
and sweeping eaves of the main gate frame a lovely picture at 
that hour* A long flight of granite steps leads to the street of 
dangling sake-bottles, which in turn leads straight to the old 
Yasaka pagoda, standing like some grey old guardian spirit 
watching over the town below* Here and there, among the 
houses of the city, the great curved roof of some Buddhist 
temple looms gigantic in the evening haze; and westwards 
over Arashiyama the sun sinks in a blaze of yellow glory, which 
turns the pillars and turrets of venerable Kiyomizu into some 
wondrous vision of fable* 

But Kiyomizu by moonlight is even lovelier still* Once 
I prevailed upon a Japanese friend and his little daughter to 
accompany me to the temple when the moon was full* The 
Japanese do not like such places at night, for among this highly 
imaginative and superstitious people belief in the supernatural 
is rampant; and temples and other such gloomy places are 
haunted by the ghosts of those who have lived in them* A 
great silence, therefore, hung over the deserted buildings* 

At the threshold of the second gate, where a scowling 
dragon sends a stream of crystal water gushing from his brazen 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 203 

throaty my friend made furtive attempts to prevail upon me 
to stop and admire the beauty of the moon^ instead of going 
farther; and little O Kimi San^ finding her father's hand 
insufficient security^ came between us^ taking mine as welL 
I pressed on^ however, resolved to see it alL As we entered the 
dark portal, the creaking floors awoke a myriad echoes among 
the walls and ceilings, and O Kimi San, walking on tiptoe with 
trepidation, her little Japanese brain busy with all the ghost 
and fairy-tales she knew, peered into the gloomy shadows, 
seeing ^* spooks ^^ in every corner and lurking goblins by every 
post* Old Binzuru^s leprous head looked fearful in the moon- 
light, and O Kimi, her face hidden in her father's kimono, 
clung to us both for protection* 

In the shadowy corridors we all involuntarily glanced back 
more than once, thinking some one followed behind; no one 
was there, however, the fancied follower being naught but 
our own foot-falls reflected by the whispering walls* At the 
Oku-no-in a voice rang out in challenge* It was one of the 
resident priests, who, finding we were only harmless sightseers 
paying a nocturnal visit to the temple, courteously offered 
to conduct us, much to O Kimi's relief* 

As we stood on one of the verandas, far above the trees, 
watching the twinkling lights of the old city, the moon was 
braiding the clouds with silver, and shedding soft radiance 
and fitful shades on the balustrades and heavily -thatched 
gabled roofs about us* Not a sound broke **the soft silence of 
the listening night '* save the gentle murmur of a little cascade 
below us, and the chirruping of the crickets, until a nightingale 
burst into song in one of the tree-tops below us* It was a 
pretty climax to our ramble, and as rare as delightful, for 
the uguisu is seldom heard so far south, though I have heard 
them nightly in summer at Ikao and Karui^awa* 

Higashiyama's lower slopes are labyrinths of pine avenues, 
paved with broad stone flags, and are all a-whispering with 
the streamlets that course in deep culverts on either side* The 
grounds of temples and monasteries abut each other every- 
where, and one discovers some fresh carved gate or old stairway 



204 IN LOTUS-LAND 

among their shady groves at every turnings Near the Yasaka 
pagoda there is one of the finest bamboo groves in Japan, 
where a small forest of tall^ slender shoots bow to every breeze, 
and mingle their feathery tips full fifty feet overhead ♦ I studied 
it well before attempting to photograph it* In a high wind it 
cannot be successfully done, nor in bright sunlight can its full 
beauty be shown* One day, however, the sun, being very weak, 
gave just the light I wanted* I hurried to the avenue, and was 
fortunate enough to induce some women to pose for me in their 
rikishas* In order that I should not be interrupted I told one 
of my kurumaya to stop at each end of the grove and prevent 
anybody from passing* Having some difficulty in arranging 
the picture, a good deal of time passed, and just as I secured 
it, two dapper policemen came up and demanded to know why 
I was obstructing the road; and with them came some scores 
of people whom the 2;ealous kurumaya had been keeping back* 
My explanations were of no avail, though they were courteously 
received* My name and address, and the names of all the 
kurumaya and of the girls, were with much ado taken down, 
and I was notified that fines would be imposed upon all of us* 
The picture did not, however, prove so expensive as might 
be supposed, for when the bill for the aggregate fines was 
presented to me the same evening, I found it amounted to 
three yen, or about six shillings* 

At Higashiyama^s base there is a curious temple, called 
San-ju-san-gen-do, the '*Hall of Thirty-Three Spaces^' — 
the spaces being those into which it is divided by a single row 
of thirty-two pillars* The place is as different from Kiyomi2;u 
as it well could be* More like a great barn than a religious 
edifice, it is yet very interesting, and although not resembling 
it architecturally, nor possessing any of its beauty, it reminded 
me of the ^* Thousand Buddha Temple^' at Peking* The two 
temples have one feature in common: that at Peking boasts 
one thousand images of Buddha; San-ju-san-gen-do possesses 
one thousand and one effigies of Kwannon, Goddess of Mercy* 
These effigies are covered with smaller ones on their foreheads, 
halos, and hands, until it is said the grand total of 33,333 is 




Copyriglit Underwood Cr Underwood. 



A BAMBOO AVENUE AT KYOTO 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 205 

reached — a statement which I accepted without attempting 
to verify its accuracy* 

They are a tawdry, motley company, these tiers of gilded 
goddesses, whose serried ranks, a hundred yards long and a 
full battalion strong, fill the vast building from end to end* 
The images, many of which are of great age, are continually 
being restored* In a workshop behind the vast stage an old 
wood-carver sits, his life occupation being the carving and 
mending of hands and arms, which are constantly dropping 
off, like branches, from the forest of divine trunks — ^for 
Kwannon is a many-limbed deity, and few of the images have 
less than a do^en arms* Rats scuttled over the floors and hid 
in the host of idols as we made our way round them; and at 
the back of the building we were stopped by an old priest, who 
sat at the receipt of custom and demanded a contribution 
from every visitor* 

One day, as I suddenly turned a corner in this temple, I 
saw a tourist, who supposed no one was looking, deliberately 
break a hand off one of the gilded figures and put it in his 
pocket* It is strange to what acts of vandalism the mania for 
collecting useless relics leads some people* Once in Kyoto I 
was invited by two travellers, whom I had just met, to come 
to their room, where they were busy packing, prior to leaving 
for home* I noticed some beautiful specimens of hikite — 
inlaid ornamental bronze plates used as finger-grips on sliding 
doors — lying on the floor* I picked them up and admired 
them, asking where they had bought them, as a glance showed 
me they were very good ones* To my ama2;ement they told 
me they had ripped them from the doors of a Japanese hotel 
at which they stayed, and were now discarding them because 
they could '*not be bothered with them any longer**^ 

When such acts as these are committed in a land where 
one is often on one^s honour with regard to some dainty work 
of art in the simple furnishing or decoration of one's room, 
the wonder is that foreigners are not viewed with real distrust* 
It will certainly take many years to undo the evil left 
by that act in that hotel-keeper's mind* And these young 



2o6 IN LOTUS-LAND 

fellows were the sons of wealthy New Yorkers^ and appeared 
to have unlimited money to spend! 

In summer Higashiyama's woods ring with the shrill 
chirping of a myriad cicadas^ called seimi; and small boys^ 
with long bamboo poles tipped with birdlime^ swarm from the 
town to hunt the festive insect* Many a time^ as my kurumaya 
ran past these seimi-hunters^ I have had to dash their bamboo 
points away from my face^ and have so often seen others 
narrowly escape injury from these dangerous playthings^ that 
it is not surprising to learn that much of the blindness 
seen in Japan is due to the careless handling of sticks by 
Japanese children* 

The captured seimi are sold for a trifling sum to an entomo- 
logical dealer, who imprisons them in tiny bamboo cages 
which are often specimens of delicate and beautiftil work- 
manship; and his wayside stall is all a-twitter with the cries 
of scores of singing insects* There are many different species, 
but the children class all cicadas under the generic name of 
seimi* From some of the little cages the intermittent lights 
of a do^en fireflies flash; in others as many glow-worms shed 
a feeble glimmer, and the insect-merchant's stall is always 
the centre of a group of admiring children* 

The sounds emitted by some of the cicadas are very pleasing 
and sweet, whilst others have a shrill metallic note that hammers 
one's brain to distraction* The vibrating song of the seimi 
marks the arrival of summer* From end to end of Japan their 
cries increase in volume as the season advances, until the 
drowsy hum of the woods at times becomes a fortissimo of 
one continuous scream* In places they gather in such prodi- 
gious numbers that their song becomes a veritable pande- 
monium, and the air quivers with their unceasing clamour 
from morning till night* From August on this woodland 
music becomes a gradual diminuendo, which ceases altogether 
in November* 

I love the song of the seimi, and always listened for its 
first lone call as in England I used to look for the first swallow 
or listened for the cuckoo; only the sweet chirp of the Japanese 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 207 

insect gave me even greater pleasure* I love the Japanese 
summer^ too^ and the seimi^s voice^ proclaiming that summer 
was at hand^ always filled me with gladness* More than once^ 
as I have listened to the happy little singer in the autumn^ 
it has fallen lifeless from the tree* To the very last the muscular 
power^ which enabled it to produce by friction its joyous song^ 
had escaped the dread disease that fed upon its vitals^ and it 
died as it had livedo a merry-maker and joy-giver^ happy and 
giving happiness to the end — fulfilling to the final moment of 
its life the service entrusted to it by its Creator* Thus the 
woods have their tragedies to those who love them* 

And every autumn there came a day when I found an 
indefinable something missing in my woodland rambles* 
Suddenly I would come upon the tiny body of what was once 
a joyous seimi^ lying in my path* Then I knew what it was 
that the woodland lacked* It was the gladsome song of summer: 
the chorus of the seimi^ which^ whilst the woods slowly turned 
from green to gold^ and brown^ and scarlet^ had become 
gradually hushed^ until now every voice of that chorus was 
stilled in death* 

Higashiyama is the home of other^ and less pleasant^ 
members of the insect-world* Mosquitoes^ which breed in 
swarms in the rice-fields^ seek the shelter of these woods^ and 
make life a burden to those who have to pass the summer in 
them* After dark no place is secure from this pest^ and even 
the mosquito-curtains over one's bed must be carefully searched 
each night to ensure that no crafty^ enterprising intruder is 
lurking in ambush for its victim in their folds* 

Most Japanese Buddhist temples of any note^ if not framed 
by Nature's graces^ have beautiful gardens* Some of them are 
veritable paradises of peaceful beauty^ for the priests are 
past-masters in the art of landscape gardening* 

In Kyoto one of the finest is that at Kinkakuji^ where 
natural and artificial beauty are combined so skilfully that 
there is little but what appears to be the unhampered handi- 
work of Nature* It is the lovely grounds that foreign visitors 
go to see rather than the old temple buildings — though these 



2o8 IN LOTUS-LAND 

contain many famous masterpieces* Many Kyoto temples 
shelter a feast of art on their walls^ but no other temple in 
Japan can show such grounds as Kinkakuji* They have been 
the inspiration of many a famous garden^ though few others 
can equal their tranquil beauty* 

The temple was built by the Shogun Yoshimitsu in 1397 
— as a country villa to which he could retire from the cares 
of the world* He founded the adjacent monastery^ became a 
monk^ and ended his days there* 

Kinkakuji means "'Golden Pavilion/^ from the fact that 
formerly the upper story of the building was entirely covered 
with gold* Few traces of its pristine splendour now remain^ 
but it makes a charming picture as it stands overlooking the 
lake^ and is a favourite motive for artists^ and for craftsmen 
working in every kind of material* 

As one approaches the old pavilion a shoal of carp appear 
at the water^s edge^ begging for some of the popped corn which 
the watchman sells* Whilst I was feeding them my attention 
was distracted by a youthful acolyte — whose shaven head was 
polished to the lustre of a billiard-ball — ^who was acting as 
cicerone to a party of Japanese country visitors* They followed 
in single file^ as the boy^ in monotonous^ high-pitched tones^ 
described the paintings on the doors and walls^ and then^ 
leading them out into the garden^ commented on each spot 
and stone of note^ never once lifting his eyes from the ground 
the while* He had it all by rote> and his thoughts were obviously 
busy with other matters; but his charges listened respectfully^ 
now and again sibilantly sucking the breath between the teeth 
when famous names were mentioned* Presently one of the 
visitors^ of a more inquiring turn of mind than the rest^ craved 
further information^ and interrupted with a question* After 
vainly trying to answer it^ there was much rubbing and scratch- 
ing of his bald pate before the cicerone could regain the run 
of his discourse* 

The lake^ which in summer is almost covered with a 
flowering plants is surrounded by shady walks beneath pines 
and maple-trees^ and little islets and ornamental stones break 




Copyright Underwood ff Underiuood. 



THE PINE-TREE JUNK AT KINKAKUJI 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 209 

up its surface* In autumn the groves are ablaze with colour; 
and in winter, when the pines and temple roofs bear, as they 
sometimes do, a thin coating of snow, the old garden is more 
beautiful than ever* 

In the monastery court there is a wonderful example of 
the tree-trainer's art which has taken a couple of centuries to 
produce* It is a full-grown pine representing a junk under 
sail — hull, mast, sails, and all — the branches being restrained 
by careful trimming and training on bamboo frames, until 
the result attained constitutes the most famous arboricultural 
effort in Japan* 

Kinkakuji stands outside the city at its north-western 
corner* At the north-eastern corner is Ginkakuji, whither 
Yoshimasa, eighth of the Ashikaga Shoguns, retired in 1479 
upon his abdication of the Shogunate* Japanese society owes 
much to Yoshimasa, for during his meditations in this lovely 
secluded spot, he, with S5ami, the artist who designed 
the garden, and the Buddhist abbots Shuko and Shinno, 
his favourites, ^* practised the tea-ceremonies, which their 
patronage elevated almost to the rank of a fine art*'' ^ 

The road to Ginkakuji lies through terraced fields, which 
are planted out to rice as soon as the barley crop is harvested. 
The roofs of half a score of grand old temples appeared amidst 
magnificent cryptomeria groves and bamboo coppices as we 
sped through this bounteous farmland; and when at length 
we pulled up at Ginkakuji's gate, a Lilliputian priest, with 
shaven head and polished crown — the counterpart of the little 
cicerone at Kinkakuji — acted as our guide* 

He conducted us by winding paths round a pretty lake, 
over the ''Bridge of the Pillar of the Immortals" that spans a 
stream called the ''Moon- Washing Fountain"; chanted out 
the story of the "Stone of Ecstatic Contemplation" — a tiny 
island in the lake; and showed us over the "Silver Pavilion" 
— ^which, it seems, never was covered with silver at all, as its 
name "Ginkakuji" implies it was, for the ex-Shogun died 
before he was able to accomplish his wishes with regard to iu 

* Murray's Handbooks 



210 IN LOTUS-LAND 

It has little interest beyond its picturesque appearance and an 
aged image of Kwannon in the upper story* 

The little bon2;e then took us into the garden again^ and 
finally brought us to two great conical heaps of sand* These 
are named the "'Silver-Sand Platform/' and the "'Mound 
Facing the Moon/' On the former Yoshimasa^ this devoted 
disciple of beauty^ "'used to sit and hold aesthetic revels/' 
On the smaller "he used to sit and moon-ga^e/' 

In one of the apartments of the building near by there is 
a statue of Yoshimasa in priestly robes^ marvellously lifelike* 
If it be a true portrait of the ex-Shogun it must depict him in 
his fighting days^ for it resembles rather a fierce warrior in 
disguise than a fastidious^ moon-gazing priest* It would be 
interesting to know what kind of aesthetic revelry the monarch 
indulged in* If^ however^ the elaborate system of etiquette^ 
called "'Cha-no-yu/' which he perfected in his retirement here^ 
be like his sand-heap revels^ then it is easy to see how he could 
have indulged in them^ to his heart's content^ without dis- 
turbing the surface of his "platform/' for anything more 
dignified and stately than this ceremonial it would be im- 
possible to imagine* To Yoshimasa and his code of etiquette^ 
which is followed to this day by the Japanese upper classes, 
must be largely credited that superb ease of manner and 
absence of self-consciousness that enables the Japanese lady to 
be the very embodiment of composure in all her actions* The 
inflexible code of Cha-no-yu, prescribing minutely her every 
movement in the intricate tea-ceremony, supplies rules that 
govern her deportment in every possible situation in which 
she is ever likely to be placed* To anyone versed in the art, 
lack of self-possession under any circumstances would be 
impossible; and none but the most ultra-refined of races 
could ever have evolved it* Though I have many times seen 
its formalities performed, to attempt to describe them with 
any degree of justice is beyond me* Some even who have 
taken lessons in the art, have tried and failed* They have 
merely described its forms, but left them devoid of all the 
poetry, and beauty, and culture which they mirror* One must 




Copyright Undeyivood &• UJiderwood. 

HIGASHI HONGWANJI TEMPLE, KYOTO 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 211 

see a Japanese lady perform the tea-ceremonial to realise its 
aesthetic beauty — a foreigner can only burlesque it either in 
performance or description* 

Japanese Buddhism is divided into six principal sects ♦ In 
order of their numerical strength they are: Zen; Shin^ or 
Monto^ or Hongwanji; Shingon; Jodo; Nichiren; Tendai* 
The Shin sect^ whilst not the most numerous, raise the most 
imposing edifices from the standpoint of linear proportion* 
Their temples are always well in the heart of the city* Higashi 
Hongwanji, or Eastern Hongwanji, in the southern part of 
Kyoto, is not only the largest, but one of the newest and 
grandest temples in Japan* 

One finds old temples, and grand temples, and magnificent 
temples in many Japanese cities; but it is not everywhere, nor 
indeed anywhere else than in Kyoto, that one can see what a 
Buddhist temple of truly majestic proportions looks like when 
almost new* Such, however, is Higashi Hongwanji, for it was 
completed as recently as 1895, ^^^^ eight years of building — 
the original edifice having been destroyed by fire during the 
revolutionary struggles in 1864* 

At each of the two gates in the massive fifteen-foot wall 
which surrounds the courtyards, there is a pair of superb 
bronze lanterns, deeply carved; and in the enclosure an 
immense lotus-flower of bron2;e serves as a fountain, from 
which pure water flows for the use of worshippers before 
entering to their devotions* The lotus is the sacred emblem 
of Buddhism, and fountains in the shape of its blossom are 
to be found in many Buddhist temples* 

For simple beauty and grandeur Higashi Hongwanji^s 
buildings are perhaps more impressive than any others in 
Kyoto* The Daishi-d5, or Founder^s Hall, rears its enormous 
roof in sweeping curves one hundred and twenty-six feet 
above the ground; and ninety-six enormous boles cut from 
keyaki trees — the wood of which is so hard as to set time at 
defiance — support it* 

That a great temple like this could rise, more magni- 
ficent than ever, out of the ashes of its predecessor, shows 

p 



212 IN LOTUS-LAND 

how solid are the foundations on which Japanese Bud- 
dhism rests^ 

When the call for contributions went forth^ those who had 
money to give^ gave it; and those who had none^ but yet were 
strong of muscle or skilful with their hands, gave their labour 
to the rearing of the great edifice^ And the women, in thousands 
— ^not to be behindhand with the men in bestowing what they 
could — sheared off their raven locks to be woven into twenty- 
nine immense hawsers with which the ponderous pillars and 
beams were hoisted into place* These cables of human hair 
(the largest of which is sixteen inches in circumference, and 
nearly a hundred yards in length) are preserved as relics in 
the temple — an eloquent message to future generations of 
the sacrifice that the women of Meiji made for the creed in 
which they lived and died* 

fHigashi Hongwanji contains no old art treasures, as those 
it formerly possessed were all destroyed when the previous 
buildings were burnt* Its interest lies in its magnificent and 
well-balanced proportions, and the proof it affords that the 
Buddhist architect of to-day is as skilful as any of his pre- 
decessors* Not the least interesting of its sights is the pavilion 
in the courtyard, which shelters a huge bron2;e bell* 

"The Shin Buddhists have another temple, smaller, but 
more interesting to the artist and lover of old-time things — 
Nishi Hongwanji, or Western Hongwanji* Its apartments 
are a veritable treasure-house of old Japanese art* Never 
have I trod shoeless over cold winter floors and chilly mats 
more willingly and reverently than through this pageantry of 
treasure* The main buildings, splendid as they are with 
coffered ceilings, arabesqued cornices, golden walls, carved 
cedar doors and ramma, and gilt and painted shrines, are yet 
eclipsed in interest by the sumptuous feast of art in the state 
apartments of the Abbot's palace* 

Here are masterpieces of the Kano, and other schools, on 
sliding screens, and doors, and walls* There are wild geese 
and monkeys by Ryoku; palm-trees and horses by Hidenobu; 
a heron and a willow-tree, and a sleeping cat and peonies by 




A BUDDHIST PRIEST AND PRAYING-WHEEL 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 213 

Ryotaku; Chinese screens by Kano Koi; waves by Kokei; 
tigers by Eitoku; deer and maple-trees by Yoshimura Ranshu; 
bamboos^ with sparrows on a gold ground^ by Maruyama Ozni; 
chrysanthemums by Kaihoku Yusetsu; wistarias by Naozane; 
and a whole gallery of works^ by other artists^ which would 
take some days to examine thoroughly* 

Hidari Jingoro^ most famous of all Japanese wood-carvers^ 
is well represented^ as he is in most temples of any note* Indeed^ 
the short span of this left-handed artist's days (1594-1634) 
must have been worthy of a more strenuous era^ estimated by 
the numerous works he left* One of his carvings on the Higu- 
rashi-no-Mon^ or ''Sunrise-till-Dark Gate/' so called because 
a whole day and night might be spent in examining it^ represents 
** Kyo-yo^ a hero of early Chinese legend^ who^ having rejected 
the Emperor Yao's proposal to resign the throne to him^ is 
washing his ear at a waterfall to get rid of the pollution caused 
by the ventilation of so preposterous an idea; the owner of 
the cow opposite is supposed to have quarrelled with him for 
thus defiling the stream at which he was watering his beast*'' ^ 

From room to room^ each as beautiful or more so than 
the one we had left^ the old bonze led us^ over twittering 
** nightingale floors" and through many painted doors^ stopping 
to comment at every few steps on some famous work of art 
or point of interest* 

At length we were conducted to the garden* This was one 
of the favourite pleasure-grounds of Hideyoshi^ most poetical of 
Japanese warriors* When he was not busy with schemes for 
the conquest of Korea or the invasion of China^ here he used 
to come and restore his jaded body with rest^ and feast his 
aesthetic soul with the beauty of O Tsuki San^ the Lady Moon* 

The pretty winding lake was crossed with stone and rustic 
bridges* Ducks sported in the water^ and old stone lanterns 
peeped from herbaceous thickets or maple bowers^ and were 
reflected on the surface* Palms^ and banana-trees with ele- 
phantine leaves^ gave the garden a tropical look^ and but for 
the temple vistas through the foliage^ one might imagine one- 

^ Murray^s Handbook. 



214 IN LOTUS-LAND 

self in Ceylon* There was a Buddha in a shady nook^ and great 
red carp gleamed in the water at its foot* They followed our 
movements round the pond until the old priest — standing on 
the bridge^ hewn from a single stone^ that spanned an arm of 
the pool — threw them handfuls of boiled wheats which they 
gobbled up noisily* 

In the temple courtyard there is a fine icho-tree^ whose 
leaves^ should a conflagration threaten danger^ would im- 
mediately become fountains of gushing water^ and thus 
preserve the sacred edifice from harm* 

Although there is no praying-wheel in any of the Kyoto 
temples^ I have seen several in other parts of Japan^ the finest 
being a pair at the great temple of Zenkoji at Nagano, and 
it is perhaps opportune to refer to it here* 

Every one has heard of the instrument — I might say the 
time-saving instrument — of devotion so popular with the 
Thibetan Buddhists* And every one knows that it is a little 
box of prayers which is whirled round by a handle held in the 
hand, the whirler laying up for himself as great a store of merit 
each time he whirls as if he recited the whole of the prayers 
with which the box is filled* 

It is the Buddhist belief that death does not alter the 
continuity of life but merely alters its form* Death and rebirth 
follow each other in constant succession* According as a man 
has sowed in this life so shall he reap in the next, and so on 
until the final break-up of the universe, or the attainment of 
Nirvana, which latter, being the reward of a perfect life, is 
the hope of all good Buddhists* 

The conquest of all earthly desire is essential to the cessa- 
tion of rebirths, and it is to this end that the help of the 
perfunctory prayer-wheel is enlisted* 

Although the small whirling prayer-box of the Lama is 
well known, I do not think it is so widely known that there 
are other forms of this devotional contrivance; and I have 
found that many people who have travelled and even lived 
in Japan are unaware that it is used in that country* About 
this instrument, how can I possibly do better than quote the 




AN AVENUE OF TORII AT INARI TEMPLE 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 215 

words of my friend Professor B* H» Chamberlain $* In Things 
Japanese he says of the praying-wheel: "'This instrument of 
devotion^ so popular in Thibetan Buddhism^ is comparatively 
rare in Japan^ and is used in a slightly different manner^ no 
prayers being written on it* Its raison (Vttre, so far as the 
Japanese are concerned^ must be sought in the doctrine of 
Ingwa^ according to which everything in this life is the outcome 
of actions performed in a previous state of existence* For 
example^ a man goes blind; this results from some crime 
committed by him in his last avatar* He repents in this life^ 
and his next life will be a happier one; or he does not repent^ 
and he will then go from bad to worse in successive rebirths; 
in other w^ords^ the doctrine is that of evolution applied to 
ethics* This perpetual succession of cause and effect resembles 
the turning of a wheel* So the believer turns the praying- 
wheel, which thus becomes a symbol of human fate, with an 
entreaty to the compassionate god Ji^o to let the misfortune 
roll by, the pious desire be accomplished, the evil disposition 
amended as swiftly as possible* Only the Tendai and Shingon 
sects of Buddhists use the praying-wheel — gosho gumma as 
they call it — ^whence its comparative rarity in Japan*"" The 
photograph shows the priest in the act of revolving the wheel* 

As Chio-in, Kiyomi^u, and the Hongwanji are the principal 
Buddhist temples in Kyoto, so Inari-no-Yashiro and Kitano- 
Tenjin are the most important Shinto shrines* 

That Inari, about two miles from the heart of the city on 
the Fushimi road, should be particularly popular with the 
farming classes is not surprising, seeing that its patron deity 
is the Rice-goddess* There are probably more temples dedi- 
cated to Inari throughout Japan than to any other member of 
either the Shinto or Buddhist pantheons* They number 
many thousands, if one include the wayside shrines to be seen 
in every rural district* Inari's temples are distinguished by 
red torii, sometimes in great numbers, and by stone images 
of a pair of foxes* Popular superstition credits the fox with 
being the incarnate form in which the deity comes to earth* 
The fox is therefore held in great dread in Japan, as the 



2i6 IN LOTUS-LAND 

peasantry believe it to have the power to enter the body of a 
human being and there comport itself much as the devils of 
the New Testament did before their exorcism caused the 
destruction of the Gadarene swine^ 

The first of Inari's many buildings stands at the end of a 
stone-flagged avenue of pine-trees^ entered through a great 
vermilion torii* Under the heavily-thatched eaves hangs a 
large polished mirror of bronze* This device — ^which was 
borrowed from Buddhism and is repeated in the other buildings 
— ^seems to say to all who enter ** Know Thyself/^ and therein 
it embodies the whole teachings of the Shinto creed* Shinto 
has no dogma nor moral code; it offers no sage admonitions 
for the avoidance of worldly pitfalls^ nor holds out^ to those 
who instinctively elude them^ any hope of future reward* Its 
whole teachings are summed up in the exhortation to its 
adherents to follow their natural impulses and obey the 
Mikadoes laws* 

Shinto^ or the'* Way of the Gods/^is based on the assump- 
tion that^ in Japan^ man is born with an instinct that teaches 
him to distinguish between right and wrongs and therefore 
there is no need for any code such as might be necessary for 
the guidance of less-favoured mortals* The mirror is its 
emblem^ mutely exhorting its votaries to look into their hearts 
and see that they are as clean as a properly-regulated instinct 
should keep them* 

There are no art works at Inari^ nor are there in any other 
Shinto temple; simplicity is as much the key-note of the 
buildings as the creeds and the magnificent elaboration, 
gorgeous embellishment, and intricate ritual of the imported 
Indian religion finds little echo in the indigenous faith*^ 

The inevitable carved foxes are, of course, in evidence* 
There are several pairs of them, covered with wire to keep the 
birds from defiling them* There are some fine ishi-doro (stone 

^ The mortuary shrines to the Tokugawa Shoguns at Nikko owe their 
splendour to Buddhism, though many Shinto features were introduced when 
the latter was established as the State religion at the commencement of ** The 
Enlightened Era." 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 217 

lanterns)^ too^ and a number of brass and bronze ones hang 
in the various pavilions* 

Broad stone courtyards and flights of steps lead to Inari's 
many smaller shrines^ and all day long the temple precincts 
resound with the clapping of hands and jingling of bells, as 
the worshippers bring their palms sharply together to invoke 
attention, and rap the call-ropes against the hollow bronze 
gongs to make assurance doubly sure that the deities are 
heedful, before making their supplications* 

The veranda of the main building is guarded by a pair 
of carved and painted koma-inu and ama-inu* These very 
ferocious-looking creatures, with nicely-groomed and curled 
manes and tails, are an idea imported from Korea and 
China* They are credited with the power to ward off the 
attacks of evil spirits, and are to be found in many 
Japanese temples* 

At the Lama temple in Peking there is a very fine pair, 
superbly carved in bronze; and an immense granite pair guard 
the entrance to the Palace in Seoul, Korea* 

In China they represent the Heavenly Dogs that devour 
the sun at the time of eclipse; and the ball so often carved in 
the mouth of one of the pair shows the orb of day undergoing 
this experience* In Japan they do not appear to mean anything 
in particular, having simply been taken over from their neigh- 
bours by the Japanese, together with the religion, as picturesque 
and appropriate features* One of the pair always has its mouth 
open and the other's lips are tightly closed* Opinions differ 
as to which is the male and which the female, but a Japanese 
friend offered the explanation that the female is always shown 
with the mouth open, ''as it is quite impossible for a woman 
to keep her mouth shut**' 

Inari's courtyards are the haunt of fortune-tellers and 
diviners, mendicant cripples, toy-sellers, and an old woman, 
who for the sum of three sen (three farthings) will liberate 
a sm^all bird from a cage, thereby bringing to the donor of this 
amount some merit for the kindly act* For the sum of three- 
pence one might free the whole of her stock in trade, and when 



2i8 IN LOTUS-LAND 

I did so^ giving the old beldame double payment^ she was 
quite overwhelming with her benedictions^ 

The Japanese uranaisha^ or fortune-teller^ fills a very 
serious and material place in the estimation of the lower classes 
of the people* They resort to him in every conceivable form 
of trouble* For a trifling sum he dispenses advice to the love- 
lorn maiden or the unhappy wife; instructs mothers as to the 
probable outcome of the ailments afflicting their children; 
warns his patrons against^ or gives his assent to^ proposed 
journeys; counsels them in business undertakings; looks into 
the future for them^ or lays bare the past ; delineates character 
in their palms and faces; advises them in matrimonial affairs; 
indicates where lost articles can be founds and in a hundred 
ways comforts and assists them in distress* 

With a small pile of books, and a joint of bamboo filled 
with his divining rods, he is to be found at more than one 
temple in most cities of any si^e* How much reliance may be 
placed on his advice and prognostications is a matter for the 
individual to decide* The following case, however, came 
within my own experience* 

One November I left Japan for India, not knowing when 
I should return, but telling a faithful servant I should probably 
be back in the following June* I returned in May, arriving 
in Tokyo at 6 o'clock one day* The same evening I took the 
7 o'clock train to Yokohama to engage my servant's services 
again* On arriving at his house he evinced little surprise at 
seeing me a month earlier than I had told him to expect me, 
and, on my asking the explanation, said that he had been 
several times lately to consult a uranaisha* Without telling 
the uranaisha where I was, or anything whatever about me, he 
simply questioned him if he could tell ^* where my master is*" 
On two occasions the seer could tell him no more than that 
his master was many thousand ri away* On the third occasion 
he had received the information that his master was on the 
sea, returning to Japan* On the fourth occasion — that very 
evening at half-past five — he had gone again, and the diviner 
had told him that I was not ten ri away, and that he would 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 219 

see me again that night. At the moment he secured this in- 
formation I was actually within ten ri, and I called^ as the 
diviner said I would. This episode may be accounted for by 
coincidence^ of course, I have simply stated the actual facts 
concerning it. 

There are several uranaisha at Inari, The illustration shows 
one of them^ in consultation with a woman of the peasant 
class^ selecting his divining rods preparatory to instructing 
her in the matter concerning which she has come specially to 
Kyoto to see him^ whilst her mother and rikisha runner 
stand by^ anxiously awaiting the verdict of the oracle. The 
pair of ishidoro to which he has fastened his sign-banner 
are typical of the severity of the style of the stone lanterns 
at this temple. 

The portrait reproduced is from a photograph of another 
of the Inari uranaisha^ and it shows him recording the 
particulars of a client's case. 

The circuit of Inari's grounds is a good three miles' walk^ 
and one may spend hours wandering amongst its many shrines 
and avenues of wooden torii, which in places are erected so 
close together as to form one long continuous arch — each torii 
almost touching its neighbour. There are many thousands of 
them in the temple grounds — indeed^ tens of thousands^ if 
one includes the miniatures that are stacked about the principal 
shrines — ^varying in height from six inches to fifteen feet. 
They are painted vermilion^ with black at the base^ and form 
a brilliant contrast to the deep green of the trees. 

The torii, characteristic of every Shinto temple, is not as 
nationally distinctive as some protest. Its whole meaning is 
a matter of contention. Most authorities claim for it Japanese 
origin as a perch for sacred fowls (tori), which time has modified 
to a mere '* symbolic ornament,'' Kipling claims it is Hindu; 
and at Alwar, in Rajputana, India, one Hindu temple that I 
visited has almost its exact counterpart. The beautiful pai-lo 
of China is the same idea in a more embellished form. Be its 
origin what it may, the torii is a very striking and effective 
structure, and its dignified lines are much beloved by native 



220 IN LOTUS-LAND 

artists* The numerous torii at Inari are the gifts of devotees 
whose supplications have met with favourable response* 

There are a score or more other temples in Kyoto in which 
one might ramble for days and ever be discovering some 
beautiful or curious feature^ hitherto unnoticed* At Kitano 
Tenjin there are bron2;e bulls^ which shine with a beautiful 
patina brought out by centuries of friction at the hands of those 
who rub them^ as they rub Bin2;uru's image at Kiyomizu^ to 
gain relief from their ailments; and there is a fine old oratory 
round which to run a hundred laps is a penance that purifies 
the heart as effectually as it strengthens the body* Sometimes 
a do^en zealots may be seen vying with each other in the task* 

Myoshinji^ whose massive buildings lie deep in groves of 
fine old pine-trees^ has many works of art, and a revolving 
bookcase, to turn which lays up as great a store of merit as if 
one read the whole of the scriptures it contains* Daitokuji 
boasts of a larger number of valuable kakemono than any 
other temple in Japan, and has an entire set of sliding doors, 
dividing room from room, painted by the famous Kano Ten-yu* 
U^amasa is famous for its statuary* Kodaiji was beloved by 
Hideyoshi, who used to sit on a certain spot in its galleries and 
revel in the beauty of the moon, as he also did at Nishi Hon- 
gwanji* Eikwando is embosomed in groves of maple-trees, and 
Shimo-Gamo has groves that are more beautiful and grander 
still* Here on the 15th May, at the annual festival, horse-races, 
in which the priests take part, are held on the broad reaches 
of turf among its splendid cryptomeria-trees; and a grand 
procession of warriors, with armour and accoutrements of 
feudal days, leaves the Imperial Palace to visit the old temple, 
just as it did in the days of old when the Mikado came in person* 

So holy is this procession that no one in the crowd may 
have his head above another's; and not all the War Office and 
other official permits I possessed could gain for me the privilege 
of an elevated position from which to photograph it* 

The stately old buildings of the Kurodani monastery, 
whose ponderous keyaki-wood doors are strapped and bossed 
with bronze, contain a blaze of golden glory in embroidered 




Copyright UtidevTvood & Underwood 



PORTRAIT OF A URANAISHA 



THE TEMPLES OF KYOTO 221 

silken banners^ and its state apartments are as rich in art as 
its situation is in natural beauty* 

At such places as Kurodani^ Chio-in^ and Eikwando^ one 
goes not only to see the temples themselves^ but also to enjoy 
the perfect harmony with which the hand of time has clothed 
their surroundings* None but the most artistic of peoples 
could have designed or conceived such grand^ reposeful settings; 
and the passing of the centuries has but added the soft charm 
that only time can give. There is an atmosphere of simple 
dignity about these temples that touches the very souL One 
approaches them with reverence* One cannot enter them 
without being purified in spirit; for thoughts are elevated 
to loftier planes^ and no believer in the faith these grand old 
structures adorn^ nor any other believer either^ could ever 
seek their precincts without deriving some benefit from the 
act* All their beauty^ and the careful and imperceptible merging 
of the art of man with the handiwork of nature^ is planned to 
calm the spirit and bring rest and joy to the troubled heart* 
Anger is dispelled^ grief softened^ and anguish tempered to 
him who roams their tranquil grounds with reverent mind^ and 
a feeling of contentment and rest enters into his soul* 

This is truly the zenith of the art of raising a sanctuary — 
to invest it with the atmosphere of peace* 

An old English gentleman^ whom I met at Kurodani^ as 
much enchanted with this lovely land as I^ said to me : '* Though 
you love them too^ you cannot feel such joy as these beautiful 
places bring to me^ for you are too young a man^ and are storing 
up a fund of memories for the days when strength has departed* 
I am old^ and the peace and restfulness of these temples is to 
me the foreshadowing of the peace I soon must find for ever* 
I am glad I came to this gentle land^ and would ask no kindlier 
fate than to end my days amidst such beautiful surroundings/' 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 

In the old-time houses that line Kyoto's old-time streets 
ancient arts are perpetuated and kept ever young* Arts^ too^ 
that are not yet middle-aged, and others that are as yet but 
in their cradles, find in Kyoto the inspiration to give them 
their fairest and noblest expression* Bronzes, embroideries, 
silks, pottery and porcelain, damascene, cloisonne, and a number 
of other products for which Japan is noted, come mainly from 
Kyoto; and visiting the places where these are made is as 
interesting as '* doing'" the regulation sights* 

Many and many a happy hour have I spent with Kyoto 
artist-craftsmen* About Kuroda alone I could write many 
pages, but must content myself with relating a few simple 
incidents* 

Kuroda is a bronze-inlayer whose only compeer is Jomi* 
He is a very tall, stern-looking, clean-shaven man, and speaks 
English fluently with a deep bass voice* Those who fail to 
visit Kyoto learn nothing of the artistic marvels created under 
his roof, for his masterpieces are never seen in any shop* Like 
a few others of his contemporaries, he does not sell his best 
work to the trade, for his output is small, and he finds a market 
for it all with visiting connoisseurs* 

At either Kuroda's or Jdmi's one may see triumphs of the 
bronze-worker's art superior to anything ever produced by 
Nagatsune, Jinpo, Toshiyoshi, or any of the old-time masters, 
for though many native crafts are being degraded by appealing 
to vulgar foreign taste, the product of the bronze-workers — 
one of the most beautiful of all Japanese arts — excels that of 
the old-time days* 

I owe much to Kuroda for what he taught me* Though 

222 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 223 

I had spent a lot of time in the shops of other metal-workers^ 
I had been groping in the dark until I met him* One day he 
said to me: "'Very few foreigners understand anything about 
bron2;e^ though most of them think they do* To show my 
finest work to them is usually a thankless task^ as many cannot 
see why one piece should be worth four or five times as much 
as another that looks almost exactly like it* Even an educated 
Japanese does not know anything about the fine arts of Japan 
unless he be a collector*^* 

With that he went to a near-by shelf^ and^ after careful 
deliberation^ selected a box from a number of similar-looking 
ones of various si2;es^ and, opening it, produced a bag of 
brocaded silk, from which he drew out a bronze plaque* 

^'Now what do you think of that^'" he asked, handing 
it to me* 

I carefully examined it* The bronze was of a rich golden- 
brown colour, with an exquisite patina, and was inlaid in 
relief with silver and gold, and with shakudo and other alloys 
of bron2;e* 

The design represented the famous Bay of Enoura, from 
Shizu-ura by the Izn peninsula* Silver-tipped waves were 
lapping the shore, and out on the ocean two golden junks 
were running before the wind, with silver sails bellying to the 
breeze* By the beach there was a grove of old pines, in various 
alloys, and in the distance Fuji-san*s snowy crest, of silver, 
floated in the sky above clouds of shibuichi (a grey alloy of 
silver and bronze)* The price was £8* 

I had certainly never seen anything more beautiful, either 
in design or workmanship, in any shop I had previously visited, 
and said so* 

^*Do you know what I think of it^^^ Kuroda replied, and 
continued without waiting for an answer: ^*What you are 
looking at is rubbish* No Japanese collector would bestow a 
second glance on it* Now I will show you what a Japanese, 
who knows, would call good work*"' 

With that he opened another box, and brought forth 
another plaque of like size, about seven inches in diameter. 



224 IN LOTUS-LAND 

and handed it to me* The design was the same^ yet not the 
same* The composition of the picture was different^ though 
the view was still Enoura Bay^ with Fuji and the junks and 
pine-trees* But; it was not the difference in the composition 
that struck me so much as the surpassing beauty of the work- 
manship* To examine these pieces^ side by side^ was in itself 
an education* One piece was beautiful^ the other was incom- 
parably beautiful* There was as much difference between 
them as there is between a cut-glass bowl made by hand and 
another pressed in a mould* This difference was not apparent 
at the first glance^ and only by careful scrutiny could I see the 
immense amount of skill lavished upon the one, which the 
other lacked* The price of the second plaque was £30* Though 
the thicker gold and silver used, and the better quality of the 
bronze, increased the value, yet the extra cost was mainly due 
to the workmanship expended on it* 

Kuroda told me that the best pieces of his work were bought 
by English and French visitors* Small vases and plaques are 
the favourite pieces, but if one desires something combining 
beauty with practical utility one may buy a cigarette- or card- 
case of shibuichi, inlaid in relief with some such simple design 
as a peasant carrying a load of firewood, or a pair of fighting- 
cocks; but one must pay at least £15 to £20 for it if one wants 
the finest work* This case, however, will be **a joy for ever"' 
to its owner, as he will always have the satisfaction of knowing 
that it is a sample of the best art of its kind* 

At Jomi's one can see inlaid work no less perfect than 
Kuroda^s ; and Jomi is also the king of workers in beaten copper* 

J5mi gave me one day as instructive a lesson in beaten- 
copper work as Kuroda gave me in bronze* He showed me two 
quite plain but very tastefully designed vases, globular shaped, 
with long thin necks* The bodies were about four inches in 
diameter, and the necks perhaps six inches long and half an 
inch thick* They were to all intents and purposes a pair, exactly 
alike, yet one was five times the price of the other* The reason 
was that, though both were beaten out of a flat sheet of copper, 
one of them had the base braced on, whilst the other was made 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 225 

in one piece* One need not be an expert to realise that a copper 
vase^ with a large round body^ a base^ and a long and very thin 
neck^ beaten out of one single sheet of metal^ must be about 
the acme of skill of the metal-beater's crafty and therefore 
worth much more than an apparently similar article in which 
the greatest difficulty was avoided by having a large open base 
through which to work* 

One of Kyoto's most famous crafts is that of damascening* 
There are two makers whose products are equally good* Both 
bear the same name^ Komai^ though I was told they were 
not related* 

I have a cigarette-case made by S* Komai* On the front of 
it there is an eagle sitting on a pine-tree^ its feathers bristling 
with anger at the intrusion of two small birds that have ap- 
proached* They did not know that their enemy was hidden 
in the tree^ but^ having just detected him, their mouths are 
open, crying with fear* The eagle and the tree are beautifully 
worked in gold of various shades, the branches are heavily 
laden with silver snow, and a few silver flakes are falling* 
Every feather and pine-needle is picked out and hammered 
into the steel, and the bark of the tree is wonderfully natural 
in its grain* At the back of the case there is a fiery dragon, 
writhing with rage, inlaid with gold of half a do2;en different 
colours, every scale being inlaid separately, clean cut and free 
of its neighbours* Inside the case there is z golden outline of 
Fuji with the snow-cap overlaid with silver* 

I do not think I ever fully appreciated this example of 
Japanese art until after I had visited the famous damascene 
works in Spain — the great sword factory at Toledo* One day 
when I was going through the inlaying rooms, I took out my 
case, and laid it on the table of the head workman* The man 
picked it up with an ejaculation of surprise, glanced at it, and 
then without a word went off with it to another room* 

In five minutes he came back with half a dozen other men 
— ^the heads of various departments* For half an hour these 
experts subjected the case to the closest scrutiny with magni- 
fying glasses, and with sighs admitted they had never seen 



226 IN LOTUS-LAND 

anything like it — that no one in Spain could execute anything 
approaching it^ either for beauty of design or perfection of 
finish* Since that day this masterpiece of the Japanese metal 
worker's art has been more precious in my sights for my own 
estimate of its merits has been confirmed by the foremost 
experts of Europe* 

Almost the only Japanese art not represented in Kyoto at 
its best is ivory-carving* For ivories one must go to Tokyo 
— to Toyama's^ Maruki's^ or Kaneda's* The two former deal 
in the highly polished carvings^ known all over the world so 
well^ and to be found in the cabinets of every European collector* 
But Kaneda has brought the art of ivory-carving to a higher 
degree of beauty* One finds no polished pieces in his house* 
He abhors the high finish and colouring by which his con- 
temporaries gain much of their effect^ and finishes all his work 
with a matt surface^ pure white* Of the beauty of this it is 
sufficient to say that he has taken the highest awards wherever 
he has exhibited* Buffalo^ Paris^ St* Louis, all gave him the 
gold medal, and the international expositions held at Osaka 
and Tokyo followed suit* 

Kaneda is not, however, the only artist now making 
matt-finished ivories* Many other sculptors have imitated 
his work — perhaps the best of all commendations of its 
merit — but he is facile princeps of all the ivory-workers 
of Japan* 

He is equally skilful in bronze, and his chief delight is in 
carving elephants* Like many others of the foremost Japanese 
artists, he is now an old man, and does little himself beyond 
supervising the artists who work under his instruction* The 
work produced by him and his pupils in carving elephants in 
ivory is unequalled; but Nogawa of Kyoto runs him very close 
in bron2;e* Like Kaneda's, Nogawa's elephants seem positively 
to live* One of Kaneda's artists — Komei Ishikawa, the most 
skilful ivory-worker in Japan — ^will take a three-foot tusk and 
carve it into a single file of elephants, so lifelike that they 
almost seem to move along the thin strip left as a base; and 
Nogawa's head artist will take a rough bronze casting of a 




THE EMBROIDERER 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 227 

pachyderm and fashion it with a tiny hammer and chisels till 
it^ also^ seems to pulsate with the breath of life^ 

At Delhi^ in India^ I have seen elephants, wonderfully 
carved in ivory, carrying a field-gun with its carriage and all 
the trappings* Every link of every chain was free, and each 
separate trapping could be removed and set up separately. 
But with it all, and notwithstanding that the Hindu has 
elephants every day before his eyes, there was not the life 
that the innate art of the Japanese enables him to instil into 
his image of an animal he never sees* 

The Chinese, too, do miracles with ivory* In Canton I 
have seen a native take a cube cut from a tusk, and so mani- 
pulate it with various tiny tools that when it left his hands the 
solid mass had become a series of twenty hollow ivory balls, 
diminishing in size from a diameter of four inches to half an 
inch, each beautifully carved and revolving freely within the 
next larger one* The balls had not been cut open; each smaller 
ball was carved inside its larger neighbour through the orna- 
mental perforations with which each ball was decorated* 
Surely this is the most surpassing skill; but it is the skill of 
the dexterous craftsman, not that of the artist* Komei Ishikawa 
could probably not execute such a piece of work for any sum 
of money, but he can do what no Chinese sculptor can even 
approximately accomplish — make a piece of ivory throb with 
life and animation — 2l more artistic effort than the Chinaman's 
concentric balk* 

The wondrous ability of the Japanese in portraying animals 
is not confined to carvings* One may see at Nishimura's or 
lida's, the great silk-merchants of Kyoto, such marvellous 
embroideries of lions and tigers that only the closest inspection 
proves them to be the work of the needle and not of the brush* 
The effect is only gained at the expense of a million or so of 
separate stitches* One piece at Nishimura's held particular 
fascination for me* It represented a tiger bounding out of a 
bamboo thicket* The creature appeared to be actually springing 
from the picture* Its jaws were open, and the fierce gleam in 
its eyes was startlingly realistic* 



228 IN LOTUS-LAND 

This wonderful example of the work of the needle was 
made by one Y62;o Nagara^ who is regarded as the foremost 
exponent of the art of needlework in Japan^ In order to 
increase the realism of the effect such pieces are not finished 
flat^ but^ by stitching over and over again^ and gradually 
bringing the picture out in high relief by padding it in places 
with much stitching underneath^ such solidity is given to 
the subject that it often seems to be the work of the sculp- 
tor and painter combined* Only close scrutiny betrays the 
embroiderer's hand* 

I had the opportunity of seeing Nagara at work at his home^ 
embroidering the head of a lion* He informed me that the 
foundation stitches were^ in places^ covered fully one hundred 
times before the desired effect of depth and richness was 
imparted to the mane* 

The most expert Kyoto embroiderers are all men* Women 
are employed only for the coarser work* . 

Chinese embroiderers show unequalled taste in their choice 
of colours^ but they have not the skill to hold the mirror up 
to nature as have the Japanese* In many of the arts that Japan 
has learnt from China — and China is to Japan what ancient 
Greece was to all the rest of Europe — inherent love of anything 
beautiful in nature has enabled the Japanese to counterfeit 
that beauty^ by a hundred different means^ to a degree of 
perfection the Chinese have seldom reached* The pupil has 
outclassed the master* 

For centuries rigid seclusion from the rest of the world 
kept the art of the Japanese free from the contamination of 
foreign ideas* They founded their schools on Chinese lines^ 
but built up and improved upon these until they had created 
an individual art of their own^ which^ whilst the Chinese origin 
is often apparent^ is yet distinct in character and unique* In 
Europe a work of art executed in one country frequently 
might have been made just as well in several others* Not 
so^ however^ the work of the modern Japanese artist^ who has 
broken the fetters of convention which kept the art of his 
country hide-bound for so long* His work shows character 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 229 

that cannot be counterfeited by a foreigner^ Even Whistler's 
attempts are but mere parodies of Hiroshige's bold and 
masterly strokes* 

The Japanese embroiderer^ who is true to his own traditions^ 
can show needlework more beautiful in design and execution 
than any the world has seen^ and the art is happily one that 
has not retrograded ♦ But it is greatly to be regretted that so 
much artistic talent is wasted on mere slavish imitation* 

The commercial maelstrom which has gathered Japan 
into its whirling vortex has produced a set of knights of the 
needle who cannot originate^ but whose skill enables them to 
copy with absolute truth and fidelity anything that is set before 
them^ be it in monochrome or colour* I saw at Nishimura's 
facsimiles of Landseer's works in monochrome so faithful to 
the copy that it was beyond my power to detect^ except by 
close inspection^ which was the original engraving and which 
its silken presentment* I saw^ too^ Landseer's ** Dignity and 
Impudence ** in colours so true to the painting beside it, that, 
from a distance of but a few feet, one would declare them 
both works by the same brush* It is depressing that such 
commendable talent should be applied to mere imitation* 

The potters and pottery-painters of Kyoto are no less 
interesting than the embroiderers and metal-workers* 

Awata is the centre from which the highly decorated ware, 
called ^*Satsuma*' in American and European shops, is shipped 
in immense quantities all over the world* It is a cream-coloured 
faience, covered with a minutely-crackled glaze, an imitation 
of the famous old pottery formerly produced at Kagoshima in 
the province of Satsuma* 

This Awata ware is decorated in many different styles, and 
for exportation in quantity nothing more inartistic is produced 
in all Japan* At a do2;en large establishments the whole floors 
of rooms are littered with vases and urns* Here men and 
women and boys and girls, working side by side, quickly 
brush in the ground-work and trace designs, each finishing 
many pieces daily, and having no scruples in using the aero- 
graph in the process — so debased have modern methods 



230 IN LOTUS-LAND 

become in the race for wealth by catering for the most 
vulgar foreign taste. 

At Yasuda's or Kinkosan's one may see the whole process 
of pottery-making from the mixing of the clay to the packing 
of the finished product* The courteous proprietor of each of 
these establishments deputes an assistant to take visitors round 
and answer any questions* In turn one sees the grinding- 
wheels; the mixing-vats^ where the clay is slaked and cleansed^ 
and made ready for the potters; the throwing-wheels^ kilns, 
and painting-rooms* 

One old potter at Kinkosan^s always interested me greatly* 
In spring, summer, autumn, and winter I have seen him at 
his wheel, his raiment growing scantier as the weather became 
warmer, until August found him with nothing but a loin-cloth 
and a few medical plasters to cover his rheumatic bones* 
Many an hour I have spent watching him slicing off lumps of 
clay and slapping them on to his throwing-wheel, which, with 
a few deft turns of his hand, he set spinning rapidly on its 
axis* Then, as if he were some necromancer casting a magic 
spell upon it, ** The shapeless lifeless clay rose up to meet the 
master's hand,*' and I almost expected the old fellow to mutter 
some incantation as, with fingers and spatula, he quickly made 
it swell out and hollowed it, and narrowed it again for the neck, 
and swelled it again for the lip, until, almost before my fas- 
cinated ga2;e could take it in, hey! presto! the thing was done* 
Then, taking a piece of wire, he cut it loose from the wheel and 
placed it on the floor beside him — a graceful vase, matching 
its fellows in all proportions to the fraction of an inch* 

Near by the potters' sheds are the drying-rooms, where 
the pieces are left for several days to dry out without artificial 
aid* Then there are the dipping-rooms, where the gla2;e is 
applied after the first, and before the second firing* The kilns 
are always interesting* Some of them are open, either receiv- 
ing or being relieved of their fragile store, whilst others are 
being carefully watched by practised old Palissys who con- 
tinually poke fresh sticks of fuel through tiny loopholes 
into the sealed-up fires* 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 231 

At Yasuda^s and Kinkosan^s^ besides the daubers — ^who 
apply to this beautiful pottery the disfigurement which the 
markets of Europe and America demand^ but which no Japanese 
can bear the sight of — ^there are artists who adorn a limited 
number of pieces with paintings of exquisite beauty* At 
Kinkosan's these artists work in little houses in the gardens^ 
where weeks^ and sometimes months^ are spent in the minute 
embellishment of a single vase. Lovely landscapes^ and scenes 
from legend and history, appear in ovals and vignettes on a 
background of deep and lustrous blue^ and gold is only used 
to give enrichment* 

The work of the best Kyoto pottery artists^ when examined 
under a magnifying glass^ shows every detail perfect — every 
twig of every tree^ and every feather of every chanticleer 
painted true to nature* 

No one can see Kinkosan^s show-rooms without wondering 
at the exceeding richness and beauty of the decorated blue 
ware which has justly earned for him the foremost place among 
the potters of Kyoto* Whilst he caters for uncultivated foreign 
taste^ it is also his aim to keep up the standard of Japanese 
miniature painting* It came as a rude shock to me^ therefore, 
when one day I saw in a Japanese shop in London some of 
Kinkosan's latest productions, which for bad taste and faulty 
painting were among the worst efforts I have ever seen turned 
out by any Japanese* The beautiful blue background was 
there^ but the gold enrichment had become a gaudy plastering, 
and instead of charming Japanese scenes in the vignettes there 
were European landscapes, with swans or geese (one could 
not tell which they were intended for), and trees of which 
it was impossible to name the species* It is sad that Japan 
should sink to such debasing of her art, instead of educating 
her patrons to the standard of her own* 

At the Kinkosan works an incident occurred one day which 
was the most remarkable instance of the Japanese proneness 
for imitation that has come within my experience* As it inti- 
mately concerned myself, I may appropriately relate it here* 

Shortly after I had published in Tokyo, under the title 



232 IN LOTUS-LAND 

FujiSan, a book containing a series of my photographic 
studies of the great sacred mountain — each one of which was 
taken from an entirely new viewpoint^ which I had myself 
sought out and discovered during many weeks devoted to the 
work — I was paying a final visit to the Kinkosan works^ before 
leaving Japan for India* Mr* Kinkosan himself conducted me 
to a room where he told me he had a great surprise for me* 
He had^ indeed ! There^ with a copy of my book open before 
him^ was his finest ^^Satsuma^' artist^ busily engaged on an 
miniature painting of one of my photographs of the mountain^ 
which he was reproducing in gold and colours on a European- 
style tea-plate! Seven others were already finished^ and I 
was told that the complete set would consist of a do^en* Though 
all my photographs are copyrighted in Japan^ and this was an 
obvious infringement of them^ I felt that the only attitude to 
adopt in the circumstances was one of ** Shikata ga nai '' 
(It can^t be helped), and to comfort myself with the solace 
that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery* 

When there is so much that is commendable, and even 
incomparable, in Japanese art, when conforming to its own 
traditions, it is depressing that modern artists should not be 
above slavish imitation of the work of a foreigner — ^with 
the camera* 

That this commercial instinct of the Japanese, as exempli- 
fied at Kinkosan's, has not yet completely killed the old spirit 
of the days when a man worked for little beyond the sheer 
love of art, the following incident will show* 

A few years ago one of these old Kyoto pottery-painters, 
who works alone in his own home, one day visited a foreign 
merchant in Kobe* Entering the merchant's office, and receiving 
permission to show his wares, he brought forth from his 
bundle some ten or a dozen small boxes, from each of which 
he extracted a dainty piece of minutely-painted pottery* These 
he tenderly and modestly arranged upon the floor, and, kneeling 
beside them, submitted each in turn for examination* When 
all had been appraised and a price quoted for each separate 
piece, the prospective buyer, indicating them with his foot. 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 233 

remarked^ '*How much reduction will you make if I buy the 
whole lot^'^ The old man sprang up with anger blazing in 
his eyes^ sayings '*Not all the money you have would buy 
them now/' and^ quickly packing them up, he bowed and 
left the house* 

This incident was related to me by a friend of the baffled 
buyer* There is no greater affront one can offer in a Japanese 
house than to use one's foot to denote an object; and when 
this old painter, born and bred in an atmosphere of strict 
etiquette — as even pottery-painters are in Japan — saw the 
work, over which he had bestowed so many weeks of jealous 
care, thus, as he thought, abused, he preferred to lose the sale 
rather than that the little pieces he loved should pass into the 
hands of any one who regarded them so lightly* 

The art of making cloisonne enamel, whilst not modem, 
has yet been brought by a few of its present-day exponents in 
Kyoto to a state of perfection never hitherto attained in Japan 
or any other land* In a short paragraph in Things Japanese 
Professor B* H* Chamberlain says: '*The art first became 
known in Japan some three hundred years ago, but it has only 
been brought to perfection within the last quarter of a century* 
Mr* Namikawa, the great cloisonne maker of Kyoto, will show 
visitors specimens that look almost antediluvian in roughness 
and simplicity, but date back no farther than 1873*'' 

It was not, however, to Namikawa's that I first went* In 
other towns I had seen the process, and I had also visited several 
other makers in Kyoto before the above paragraph came before 
my eyes* When I read it I decided immediately to visit the 
famous artist, and when my call was over I was glad I had 
seen the other places first, as I was thus better able to appre- 
ciate the excellence of the workmanship which has placed the 
Namikawa product in a class which few of his contemporaries 
ever reach* 

As I was whirled rapidly along in a rikisha, passing through 
street after street of two-storied houses with tiled roofs, each 
almost a counterpart of its neighbours, there was little outward 
show to indicate the treasures of art which might be concealed 



234 IN LOTUS-LAND 

behind those wooden walls and paper windows* Indeed^ the 
only visible clues to what investigation would reveal were often 
but simple boards on which were painted such names as 
''Komai/' ''Kuroda/' '*]dmi/' etc. To the initiated, 
however, these names mean much, for they are, as already 
shown, names to conjure with in the world of art — the 
patronymics of some of the greatest artist-craftsmen the 
century has produced ♦ 

My sturdy kurumaya, having received his instructions, 
hesitated before none of these, but trotted rapidly on until 
he finally turned into a quiet side-lane in the Awata district, 
and with a jerk pulled up and dropped the shafts before a 
private house* I thought there must be some mistake, but 
with a good-natured smile that covered his whole face, as he 
wiped the great beads of perspiration from his forehead and 
from amongst his short bristly hair, he pointed to a tiny placard, 
but a few inches long, by the entrance gate, bearing the simple 
inscription: '*Y* Namikawa — Cloisonne/^ 

The door was immediately opened, and I was greeted 
with a ^*Good morning ^^ by a young man who conducted me 
past a pretty glimpse of garden into a room typically Japanese, 
except that it was furnished with a large cabinet and a graceful 
Chinese blackwood table* 

Here I met Mr* Namikawa, a man of quiet speech and 
courteous manner, whose refined classical features betrayed 
the artist* He spoke no English, but relied entirely on the 
services of his interpreter, who invited me to partake of 
the tea which had been prepared immediately upon my 
entering the house* 

There are still to be found in Kyoto, and elsewhere in 
Japan, a few of the old-time artist-craftsmen who cannot 
reconcile themselves to modern business methods, and with 
them the purchase of a small objet d*art may take an entire 
afternoon* The motive of the visit, although perfectly apparent 
from the outset, must be broached — or at least would be so by 
a Japanese — ^in the most delicate manner possible; and only 
after much discussion, and careful expression and veiling of 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 235 

opinion, could a price be finally agreed upon at which the 
coveted possession would change hands* 

There, however, is none of this beating about the bush 
with Namikawa* He knows what you have come for, and he 
also knows that the average foreign customer may likely enough 
have planned to visit half a do^en other — I was about to write 
** shops,'* but just checked myself in time — artists* houses 
the same afternoon* 

Namikawa is at the same time an artist and a man of 
business; therefore, whilst I sipped the tea, he set about the 
selection of sundry little boxes from a cabinet near by> When 
he had chosen about a do2;en, he placed them upon the table 
before me and forthwith proceeded to open one* He produced 
therefrom a little bundle done up in yellow cheese-cloth* 
Removing this, there was yet more cheese-cloth, and after 
that a piece of silk* Unwrapping the silk, he disclosed to view 
a piece of cloisonne of such design and colouring that the 
finest I had hitherto seen seemed but crude in comparison* 
In turn he opened the other boxes, and from each brought 
forth a masterpiece* 

There were tiny vases of which the groundwork was of 
Crown Derby yellow; others in their colouring suggested 
Royal Worcester, only the designs were essentially Japanese* 
There were little jars and caskets of which the prevailing tints 
were delicate cornflower and peacock blues* There were ground- 
works of red and olive green, and of ultramarine and deep 
purple* One and all were decorated with designs more beau- 
tiful than any I had previously seen, and each was mounted 
on its own tiny stand of carved blackwood, as dainty in its 
way as the piece itself* 

In Japan it is not the custom to display the finest work at 
first* The Japanese know that to show a fine work of art to 
the uninitiated is often a thankless task — as indeed Kuroda 
had told me; therefore only where genuine interest is shown 
are the most cherished pieces brought forth* Besides, too, 
there is nothing the Japanese likes better than to have some- 
thing still '*up his sleeve,*' and in this he shows a weakness 



236 IN LOTUS-LAND 

that is, after all, but human* The visitor^s knowledge and the 
quality of his interest are quickly gauged by these Kyoto artists* 
There is no deceiving them* Pretence of knowledge is of no 
avaiL The real connoisseur reveals himself in every glance, 
just as the pretender betrays himself by every word* He who 
is anxious to learn is gladly welcomed, however, even though 
he be not a buyer* 

Though Namikawa produced other and larger pieces, it 
was not until one of my further visits, many months later, 
that I saw the very climax of his skill — a pair of vases decorated 
with an old-time feudal procession, an order from the Emperor 
which had taken his foremost artist over a year to complete* 

Namikawa's output is so small that the demand for it from 
visiting connoisseurs and collectors is sometimes more than 
equal to the supply* There is no catering for the trade* That 
is left to those who follow in his footsteps — ^who seek to imitate 
his methods and effects* As the pieces stood on the table they 
ranged in price from five to fifty pounds, a large piece of the 
latter value being about fifteen inches high, and decorated, 
on a deep blue ground, with a design of white and purple 
drooping wistarias* 

The larger pieces were in no way inferior to the smaller 
ones, though the making of a perfect piece of large size is 
well-nigh an impossibility, as some tiny speck or minute flaw 
is almost certain to appear; yet careful examination showed 
that even in the largest there was such perfection as I had 
not seen before* 

It seemed almost sacrilege to remove any of the pieces 
from the care of their creator and from the environment 
which became them so well; but I felt that henceforth life 
would be worth living only in the companionship of a 
modest but exquisite little vase, of which forthwith I became 
the proud possessor* 

Whilst I was inspecting each vase, and casket, and urn in 
turn, Namikawa slid open one of the wood-and-paper shoji 
to admit more air, for the day was warm* Involuntarily glancing 
up I beheld a most charming scene — the essence of all that 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 237 

is aesthetic^ restful^ and refined in a Japanese garden* There 
was a little lake with rustic bridges^ and miniature islands 
clad with dwarf pine-trees of that rugged^ crawling kind that 
one sees only in Japan; and out over the water^ a few inches 
from the surface^ they stretched their gnarled and tortured 
limbs towards others of their kind which strove from the 
opposite shore to meet them* 

The verandah projected over the lake^ and as my host 
stepped on to it^ from every part of the pond great carp, black, 
spotted, and gold, lashed the water to foam as they rushed 
literally to their m^aster^s feet* He cast a handful of biscuits 
to them, and a frantic struggle ensued as the fish crowded to 
the surface noisily gobbling up the tit-bits* 

Handing some of the biscuits to me, he invited me to feed 
them from my hand* Lying down on the porch I could just 
reach the water, and I found them so tame that they fearlessly 
took pieces from my fingers, and even permitted me to stroke 
them on the back* 

Under the shelter of a dwarf pine, on a tiny island in front, 
a little tortoise was gating steadily at us* I threw a piece of 
biscuit to it, but it did not move* I tossed another piece but 
it never stirred* 

Namikawa, laughing, remarked, **It cannot eat* It is 
bron^e*'^ 

Each shrub, each bridge, each stone lantern, and even 
each stone itself, was so placed in the garden as to help the 
composition of the picture* 

Here was surely the highest exposition of the landscape 
gardener's skill, for although the entire enclosure could not 
have exceeded thirty yards in length, and half as much in 
width, yet so clever was the arrangement of the water and the 
trees as to suggest a large area unseen, and even the trees 
themselves were so arranged and controlled in growth as to 
make the apparent si2;e of the garden much greater than 
the real* 

Namikawa then invited me to inspect his workshop* Con- 
ducting me out into the garden and round the miniature 



238 IN LOTUS-LAND 

hke, he led me to another buildings which was open to the 
light on two sides^ and furnished with running white curtains 
to soften and diffuse^ if necessary^ the strong glare of the sun* 
This was the workshop* 

I had not expected to see a large one^ for in Japan such are 
seldom founds and many of the greatest masterpieces have 
been created in a humble home^ where a lone individual toiled 
week after week^ month after months and in many cases year 
after year, on a single piece, until at length it stood complete 
— a master^s work of art* 

I had heard of many such cases, and I was not surprised, 
therefore, to find Namikawa^s entire staff in one room* 

Some weeks before, I had seen, in Yokohama, a cloisonne 
factory where the artisans worked on dirty wooden floors, 
designing and enamelling beautiful floral vases* In other 
rooms figures, naked save for a loin-cloth, scrubbed, and 
ground, and polished huge urns, in some cases as big as the 
scrubbing figures themselves; and by the side of kilns, which 
gleamed dull red, old and practised men stood and watched, 
the sweat dripping from their half-nude bodies* 

And in Kyoto I had visited the Takatani factory, where 
an enormous demand from Europe and America for cheap 
ware is catered for — the work being done by young girls and 
children, who laid the enamel paste on with spoons, each 
completing many pieces in a day* 

Those were ^* factories ^^ almost in the European sense, 
where the love of the lone individual of the old days, who 
wanted little and lived simply, content with the beauty created 
by his own hands — his craft his life and joy as well as occu- 
pation — had degenerated into the equivalent of the modem 
industrialism of the West, in the race for wealth which is 
sounding the death-knell of much that is best in Japanese art* 

But here were no such scenes* 

Instead, I saw a spotless studio, twenty feet in length, the 
floor covered with padded mats, on which, bending over tiny 
tables, were ten artists, so intent on their occupation that our 
intrusion caused but a momentary glance* Close by them were 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 239 

two figures^ rubbing and polishing* This was Namikawa's 
entire staff* 

In this room could be seen the whole process by which 
the enamelled ware^ called ** cloisonne/* was produced — except 
the firing* Each artist was at work on some delicate little vase 
or dainty casket^ which was surely^ yet almost imperceptibly, 
assuming beautiful outlines and colouring on its shape* At 
one table a bron2;e vase was receiving its decorative design, 
not from a copy, but fresh from the brain of the artist, who 
sketched it with a brush and Chinese ink* At another table an 
artist was cutting small particles of gold wire, flattened into 
ribbon a sixteenth of an inch in width* After carefully bending 
and twisting the particles to the shape of the minute portion 
of the design they were to cover, he then fastened them in 
place with a touch of liquid cement* At yet another table the 
wiring of a design had just been finished — the silver vase which 
formed the base being beautifully filigreed in relief with gold 
ribbon* Namikawa's fame rests as much on the lustre and 
purity of his monochrome backgrounds as on the decoration 
of his ware; this gold enrichment, therefore, covered but a 
portion of the surface* It was simply a spray or two of cherry- 
blossoms, among which some tiny birds were playing* That 
was all; yet even in this state, as it stood ready for the insertion 
of the enamels, it was a thing of beauty, for every feather in 
the diminutive wings and breasts was worked, and every petal, 
calyx, stamen, and pistil of every blossom was carefully outlined 
in gold, forming, for the reception of the coloured paste, a 
network of minute cells, or cloisons, from which the art derives 
its name* 

At other tables the enamel was being applied* The paste, 
with which the tiny cells are filled, is composed of mineral 
powders of various colours, which produce the desired tints 
when mixed with a flux that fuses them in the furnace into 
vitrified enamel* 

In the finest cloisonne the cells are only partially filled at 
first* The piece is then fired* Then more paste is applied, and 
it is fired again* Perhaps it may be seven times treated thus 



240 IN LOTUS-LAND 

before the final application of the paste^ and this last coating 
is the most important* On it very largely depends not only 
the effect of the other coats^ but also the appearance of the 
surface* It determines whether the surface shall be of flawless 
lustre^ or pitted with minute holes* 

After this last filling and firing the vase presents a very 
rough appearance^ for the final fusion has run the enamels 
together^ as the cells were filled higher than the brim* There 
is little in its appearance at the present stage to indicate the 
beauty and brilliancy lying below* It is like a rare stone before 
it emerges from the hands of the lapidary* 

The vase must now be ground with pumice-stone and 
water for many days^ sometimes for weeks, to reduce the 
uneven face to the same thickness all over* This is all done by 
hand, and calls for great skill and watchfulness, for were it 
ground thinner in one place than another the light would not 
be evenly reflected by the brilliant surface, and all the pre- 
ceding work would be ruined* No lathes are used for the work; 
gentle rubbing by hand is the only process employed* This 
grinding is accomplished so slowly that an hour's work scarcely 
leaves any perceptible impression* As the surface day by day 
becomes finer, pumice of softer and smoother quality is chosen, 
and the final pieces used are soft as silk* After the pumice, 
there follows more rubbing with smooth-faced stone and 
horn, and finally with oxide of iron and rouge, which polishes 
the surface to the lustre of a lens* 

Namikawa then makes his final inspection of the vase, 
though every day of its growth it has been under his watchful 
eye, and if pronounced perfect and worthy of bearing his name, 
it passes on to the silversmith for the addition of its metal 
rim round the base and lip, and to have the engraved name- 
plate attached to the base* On its return it is wrapped in 
silk and yellow cheese-cloth, and consigned to the cabinet 
in his house — not to remain there long, however, for it soon 
passes into the hands of some travelling connoisseur* 

One end of the room was shelved for the reception of the 
bronze and silver vases that are used as foundation for the 



THE ARTIST-CRAFTSMEN OF KYOTO 241 

enamel-work^ and for some hundreds of bottles filled with 
mineral powders of every shade and colour* These were the 
materials for the enamel* The intimate knowledge of these 
powders can only be obtained by years of experiment and 
study^ for the colours change completely when in a state of 
fusion* Not only must the artist know the shade of colour he 
desires, but how ultimately to obtain that shade by using a 
powder of a totally different hue* 

After inspecting the workshop I was shown the firing- 
room, and here, too, everything was clean and neat* Namikawa 
himself attends to the firing — perhaps the most important part 
of the whole process, for on it depends the success or failure 
of all the work preceding it* Any error in the degree of heat 
might ruin all* On the fusing depend not only the proper 
setting and colour of the enamel, but also the richness of lustre 
and freedom from air-holes in its surface* 

I learnt that some colours present much greater difficulties 
than others to fuse successfully, and that large monochrome 
surfaces require more skill than small cloisons* I was shown 
one piece, of which the design was a maple-tree in autumn 
tints on a yellow ground; the grading of the colour and the 
veining on the leaves were exquisite, and had taken many 
days of care to prepare for the final firing and polishing* 
Apparently it would be well worthy of a place in the cabinet; 
but as the pumice ground the surface down, and the details 
became clearer day by day, unsightly marks began to appear, 
and it had emerged from the kiln, not beautified, but marred 
and ruined* Thus it is that the finest specimens of cloisonne 
are so dear* The purchaser of the ultimate perfect piece must 
needs pay also for those ruined in the endeavour to produce it* 

Namikawa^s artists do not work by set hours, but only 
when the inspiration and desire for work is upon them* I 
have seldom, however, during my dozen or so visits, found 
a vacant place at the tables in the workroom* He has a name- 
sake in Tokyo — a cloisonne-maker no less famous than himself, 
but no relation* The Tokyo Namikawa makes the decorations 
bestowed by Imperial favour, of which the Order of the Rising 



242 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Sun is the most perfect specimen of enamel-work in the 
worlds and — I have it on the authority of a well-known Picca- 
dilly jeweller — quite impossible to duplicate in England* 

But the Tokyo Namikawa withdraws the wiring from 
his pieces^ thus producing an impressionist effect^ for the 
enamels run together slightly in the fusing* Beautiful as 
the results obtained are^ they have more the appearance of 
ceramic work^ and should be regarded as an entirely separate 
art — as indeed the inventor justly claims for them* 



CHAPTER XV 

UJI AND THE FIREFLIES 

Tea, as everybody knows, is the national beverage of Japan, 
though of late years beer is running it pretty close for first 
place in popular favour* Price is against the latter, however, 
and as long as tea can be produced of any grade and quality 
to suit any purse and palate there is little danger of its supre- 
macy being seriously assailed, even though breweries are fast 
becoming as conspicuous features in certain cities as are tea 
plantations in certain rural districts* The popular palate, 
however, must be ruled by the popular purse; and the Japanese 
purse is larger in dimensions than in resources* 

Japanese beer costs sixpence a bottle, whereas, even at the 
railway stations, tea may be bought for three sen (three 
farthings) a pot — including the pot and a cup as well* This, 
it must be admitted, is not an exorbitant sum* Where the 
potter's profit for ** thumping his wet clay'' comes in at this 
price it is difficult to see* As for the infusion which such a 
pot contains — ah well! I would not be guilty of betraying our 
friends the Japanese* Sufficient let it be to say that tea may 
be purchased in Japan for fifteen shillings per pound; a like 
quantity may also be bought for the sum of fifteen farthings; 
and it is not the most expensive variety that is vended on 
the trains* 

The country round about Uji is the most famous tea- 
growing district in Japan; every hill-side near the little town 
is covered with the most valuable of all Far Eastern shrubs* 
At the end of April, and during the early part of May, when 
the ^* first picking" of the leaves takes place, the country- 
side presents a most extraordinary appearance, entire hill-sides 
being completely covered in with grass matting to preserve 

R 243 



244 IN LOTUS-LAND 

the delicate young shoots from injury by the heat of the sun» 
The tenderest leaves of the new shoots produce the choicest 
tea* Only the wealthy classes^ however^ can afford it^ as it 
commands a high price: as much as thirty shillings per pound 
is no uncommon figure realised for the very limited quantity 
of this quality* After this delicate growth is gathered^ the 
bushes are picked over many times for gradually cheapening 
grades^ until the final picking yields little else but coarse^ hard 
leaves and tough stems* The shrubs are then permitted to 
rest for a months when the ^* second picking^' takes place* 
Sometimes there is a ^* third picking/^ but neither of these 
crops produces the superfine quality given by the first picking 
of the first crop* 

The tea-bushes are grown in rows; if on a slope the hill- 
side is terraced* The shrubs are not allowed to attain a greater 
height than three or four feet^ though some of them^ it is said^ 
are double centenarians* Vigorous pruning^ as well as the 
stripping of the leaves^ keeps the bushes dwarfed* 

In the illustration the terraced hill-sides are covered with 
tea-bushes^ whilst the valley below^ divided up into small 
fields from which the barley crop has just been harvested^ is 
flooded with water for the reception of the rice shoots* 

The barley is cut in May; the fields are then dug up to a 
depth of eighteen inches^ and flooded with water from an 
intricate irrigation system which turns them into soft mud* 
The mud is then strewn with manure and lime^ and worked 
over and over again until it is of the consistency of slime, 
when it is carefully levelled, and flooded with running water 
to a depth of two or three inches* The best rice is grown where 
the water well covers the mud, and this necessitates much 
skill in arranging the irrigation channels so that a limited 
quantity of water may do duty for a large area* To facilitate 
this the fields are networked with earth dams, splitting them 
up into small divisions, from which the water, regulated so 
as to cover the surface thoroughly, trickles to the next lower 
division, and so on, until a whole hill-side may be covered 
with slowly moving sheets of water* 



UJI AND THE FIREFLIES 245 

The manuring of the ground — and manuring is a necessity^ 
for no sooner is one crop out than another goes in^ and this 
has been going on for centuries — is what enables Japanese 
cities to dispense entirely with a sewerage system. The sewage 
of the city is nightly^ and even daily^ carted from the towns to 
the surrounding rural districts* The carts are drawn by human 
labour^ and leave an aroma in their wake — to which the native 
olfactory nerves seem to be proofs but which to the sensitive 
European robs travelling in the country districts of Japan of 
much of its pleasure. 

The rice is sown broadcast in small beds in April. In June 
the young shoots are transplanted to the mud fields in rows^ 
about a foot apart each way^ some four or five shoots being 
pricked into each hole. This is very rapidly done^ and at this 
season the rice-fields are busy with men and women working 
nearly knee-deep in the mud. In some districts strings are 
used as guides to keep the rows even; in others these are 
dispensed with^ and it is quite remarkable how uniformly the 
rows are planted by labourers working without this guide. 
Whichever way you look across a well-planted Japanese rice- 
field the lines are straight — ^in true quincunx formation. 

When the summer comes with its grateful heat the sprouts 
spread out and the whole field becomes vivid green; as the 
shoots grow higher the separating divisions of the fields are 
lost to view^ and a rice-grown valley seen from a short distance 
appears as smooth and even as if covered |with velvet turf. 
The measure of heat given out by the summer sun regulates 
the harvest season. In an average year the crop is reaped in 
October; but after a cool and rainy summer it may be Nov- 
ember before it is cut. One year — ^when the whole summer 
had been almost one continuous downpour of chilly rain 
— I saw hundreds of acres of rice uncut at the end of 
November. There had not been sufficient sun to bring 
the grain to the ''dough/' let alone ripen it^ and the 
crop in many districts was not worth the cuttings and was 
of more value to be turned under again as fertiliser for the 
ensuing barley-crop. 



246 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Such years bring terrible distress^ for the rice-crop is the 
staple wealth of the country* Japanese rice is the finest the 
earth produces^ as well it should be^ seeing the extraordinary 
attention that it gets* I have even seen peasants carefully going 
over the crop with a lantern in the dead of night, and with a 
horsehair switch brushing away the insects* But rice is seldom 
eaten by the poorer classes* Barley and millet are their staff 
of life* The rice they produce is far too valuable for their own 
consumption, and most of it is exported, chiefly to China, 
where it is esteemed as a luxury* 

In late autumn the roads through every rice district in 
Japan are hedged with sheaves of rice, and before every farm- 
house the women-folk are busy with the flails* No modern 
threshing machinery is known here, and even if it were it would 
be of little avail, for each individual's crop is small and his 
labour of little worth* The time is far distant yet when it will 
be cheaper for the Japanese farmer to invest his savings in 
costly machines rather than to thresh his crops by the hands 
of the family he rears* Flails of the most primitive type are 
used, and heading is done by pulling the stalks, in handfuls, 
through large iron combs, which tear off the ears, leaving the 
straw to be applied to a hundred domestic purposes, or sold 
for use in various arts* Barley is not sown in Japan as we 
sow it, broadcast or in drills, but in carefully-tended, deeply- 
worked, hilled-up rows — as we grow potatoes* A Japanese 
barley-crop is a very symmetrical and beautiful sight, and 
furnishes abundant proof of the amount of time the peasantry 
give to work which produces but a small return* 

Uji, however, is famous for a prettier sight than any of 
its farming scenes* 

In the June evenings special trains run from Kyoto and 
Osaka crowded with visitors to see the fireflies on the Uji 
river which gather in prodigious numbers and engage in 
combat* A popular legend affirms that the insects are the 
ghosts of the Taira and Minamoto soldiers who perished at 
Dan-no-oura; and that the encounter is fought over again 
by the warriors in their insect shapes on every anniversary 



UJI AND THE FIREFLIES ^47 

of the historic coniBiict* It is called Hotaru Kassen^ or the 
^'Firefly Battle/^ 

The battle takes place^ however^ many times during the 
month of June^ and one evening I went to see it with some 
Japanese friends. We engaged a boat^ and as we proceeded to 
a likely spot for the conflict there were thousands of fireflies 
blinking among the trees and over the river. These^ my friends 
assured me^ were gathering for the fray^ which would surely 
begin as the darkness grew deeper. 

Many boats besides ours were out on the river^ and the 
twang of samisens rang over the water^ giving just the Japanese 
flavour to the evening to make it perfect^ until a youth in a 
boat near by^ doubtless inspired by the romance in the air^ 
the sweet scent of the pines^ and the glimmer of the fireflies^ 
burst forth into song — or what was doubtless intended for a 
song. It was one of those wailing Japanese ballads^ half soprano^ 
half falsetto^ and had it been intended for a music-hall imi- 
tation of a tom-cat on the tiles^ would have been a clever 
performance; but as a song the effort seemed to me deserving 
of less emphatic commendation. I was assured^ however^ by 
my friends that the singer's voice was an unusually good one. 
How different are the standpoints of East and West in such 
matters! One has to suffer such hardships occasionally in 
Japan; happily^ there are many compensations for what must 
be endured from the native vocal propensities. 

We had chosen a most favourable evening for our visit. 
There was no moon^ and even the sky was cloudy^ so that it 
was very dark; there was not a breath of wind^ and the glen 
was hot and sultry. 

As the night fell the fireflies rapidly increased in numbers^ 
reminding me vividly of a remarkable entomological phenom- 
enon which I had seen a few years before in Java. Trains 
do not run after dark in the Dutch colony. One must therefore 
break the journey from Batavia to Sourabaya at a place called 
Maos^ where all trains lie up for the night. As we descended 
from the hills to the swamps in the midst of which the town 
is situated^ day quickly gave way to nighty and with the advent 



248 IN LOTUS-LAND 

of darkness fireflies commenced to appear* At first they came 
in twos and threes^ then in scores^ then by hundreds and 
thousands^ and finally by untold millions. The sight was of 
bewildering beauty* The whole night seemed to be filled with 
showers of sparks — as I have seen them fly upwards when the 
roof of a burning building fell into the flames — and the rice- 
fields were illuminated by the glare for a mile on either side 
of the train* At times a vast swarm of the tiny creatures would^ 
with one accord^ flash their lights in unison* One moment all 
would be black as pitchy the next a veritable bla2;e of fire would 
burst out* This would be continued for some seconds* Then, 
as if at the word of command, all would go as they pleased, 
only to line up into unison again a little later* What instinct 
is it that guides them?* I have remarked precisely the same 
unity among myriads of frogs croaking in a marsh* At a 
moment's notice all the thousands of throats would cease their 
song as if at some preconcerted signal; then every voice of 
the chorus would burst out again almost at the same instant* 

This spirit of unity was amongst the Uji fireflies, too* 
Vast battalions of them had gathered by eleven o'clock and 
the battle was at its height* The intermittent flashes were 
controlled with the same spontaneous accord as I had seen 
in Java* The insects congregated by thousands, and bla2;ed 
forth in concert* Then they gathered in vast opposing forces 
and hurled themselves against each other* 

It was a wondrous spectacle as the fiery insect waves 
surged together, and after each clash the river sparkled with 
the intermittent glow-lights of the fallen wounded* The dead 
and dying were gobbled up by the fish, which must have had 
a sumptuous meal that night, and reinforcements rushed in 
from all sides to fill the gaps in the ranks* 

For an hour the battle waged, until, with common accord, 
the decimated armies dispersed, scattering to all the points 
of the compass* This was the signal for the assembled spectators 
to scatter to the railway-station or to their lodgings* 




THE KOBUKUJI PAGODA 



CHAPTER XVI 

NARA— THE HEART OF OLD JAPAN 

A Japanese proverb says^ ''Never use the word 'magnificent' 
till you have seen Nikko/' They should have added^ "Nor 
the word 'peacefur till you have been to Nara/' 

Nara is the very heart of old Japan* The capital^ which in 
ancient times was removed to a new site on the death of each 
Mikado — ^but was always situated somewhere in the provinces 
of Yamato^ Yamashiro, or Settsu — came to its first permanent 
stop at Nara in a^d* 709^ and Nara continued to be the seat of 
government until the Court was moved to Kyoto in 784* At 
that time^ we are told^ the city was ten times larger than at 
present* But though it is nearly twelve hundred years since 
Nara*s glory departed^ the passing centuries have been reverent 
and gentle* They have cherished the city^s environs and the 
monuments embosomed in them^ instead of harming them^ 
and they have clothed them with the sweet serenity of honour- 
able old age* For miles around Nara is haunted with the 
ghosts of the old prosperous days — ghosts as thickly cloaked 
with history as they are now overgrown with moss and lichens* 

As one leaves the railway station (the very name of such a 
thing sounds almost sacrilege here) the eye is arrested by a 
stately pagoda standing on an eminence in the grounds of 
Kobukuji temple* It completely dominates the landscape with 
its tiers of dark-grey roofs standing out in contrast to the 
cedar-clad mountains beyond it* 

To the Japanese — ^who are very fond of embodying ^abstruse 
and abstract ideas into concrete forms — a five-storied pagoda 
is emblematical of the emptiness of life* Five is a mystic 
number* The pagoda has' five stories* The universe has five 
elements* The body has five senses (which are, however, to 

249 



250 IN LOTUS-LAND 

the Japanese mind^ enclosed in a sixth sense — the body itself) ♦ 
Everything in the world is composed out of one or more of 
the five elements — fire, earth, water, air, and ether* The 
human body especially is a combination of these elements, 
to which, when life is extinct, the body returns* Thus does 
the pagoda typify the instability of all earthly forms* The 
body, being but worthless, temporary trash, should be re- 
solutely combated and mortified, and care given only to the 
souL All this and more is borne to the Japanese mind by a 
five-storied pagoda* 

The Kobukuji pagoda overlooks a pond called Sarasawa- 
no-ike, about which there is, of course, a legend* There was 
once a lovely maiden, who, though beloved by all the gentle- 
men of the Court, rejected all their offers, as she had eyes for 
the Mikado alone* For a time she found favour in his sight, 
but ''the heart of man is fickle as the April weather,*^ the 
Japanese say, and the Mikadoes heart was after all but a mortal 
one, though it pulsed with the blood of gods* He neglected his 
beautiful mistress, until she, unable to endure his indifference 
longer, stole out of the palace one night and drowned herself 
in the garden lake* Her spirit still haunts its shores on dark 
nights, and you can hear her sighs as the breezes play softly 
in the trembling osiers round her grave* 

There are many famous temples at Nara, but it is Kasuga- 
no-miya, one of the most beautiful old Shinto shrines in Japan, 
which draws many thousands of pilgrims here annually* 
Kasuga lies deep in the heart of a fine old park* To reach it 
one must go through the great vermilion torii, which forms 
the park gate, and proceed for well-nigh a mile along a gravelled 
avenue of lofty cryptomeria-trees* As soon as rikisha wheels 
are heard, deer come bounding out of the bracken and turfy 
shades from every side, to beg with great, soft, appealing eyes 
for a few of the barley-cakes which comely little country 
musumes sell at stalls along the wayside* Long immunity from 
molestation has made the gentle creatures very friendly, and 
they will nibble from one's hand, or even thrust their noses 
deep into one's pockets, searching for some tasty morsel* 



NARA— THE HEART OF OLD JAPAN 251 

Deer are, of course, quite in harmony with English ideas of 
such places; but an exceedingly charming and purely Japanese 
feature of this avenue is the great number of old stone lanterns 
among the trees. They are votive offerings to the temple from 
wealthy followers of the faith — many of them the gifts of 
Daimyos — and their numbers are not to be summed in dozens, 
nor yet in scores nor hundreds; in thousands alone can their 
aggregate be found* In places they stand so close together as 
almost to touch each other, and in ranks of many rows* These 
ishi-doro, thickly splotched with moss and lichens, are the 
most decorative ornaments imaginable, with the sunlight 
filtering through the branches overhead and forming soft 
symphonies of light and shade about them* But their virtue 
as dispellers of gloom is far outweighed, as is intended, by 
their fine artistic effect* They are not designed for service, 
except on very special occasions, and are only lighted for the 
yearly festival, or when some wealthy visitor makes a sub- 
stantial donation for the purpose; even then it can scarcely 
be possible to light them all* 

Never having been at Nara on the occasion of its annual 
matsuri, the 17th December, and as no Midas has appeared 
during any of my visits, I have not seen the lanterns lighted, 
much to my regret* I found, however, that several do2;ens of 
them were lit each night beside the main gates of the temple 
when the weather was fair* Small saucers of oil, with floating 
wicks, were placed in them, and when the wicks were lighted 
and the little wooden frames — covered with rice-paper to 
shield the flame — ^were in place, each lantern shed a soft 
mysterious glimmer all around it* 

The atmosphere of peace and restfulness that encom- 
passes Nara comes to a focus at the temple of Kasuga* It is 
the peace of many centuries* In a*d* 767 the temple was 
founded and dedicated to Kamatari, the ancestor of the Fuji- 
wara family, which rose to be the most illustrious in Japan* 
The picturesqueness of the temple buildings, and the beauty 
of their surroundings, make a deeper and stronger appeal 
than their mere association with this great name* The lofty 



252 IN LOTUS-LAND 

cryptomerias rear their heads highest here^ and among the 
brown shades of their mossy, gravelled aisles great splashes 
of white and vivid colour are painted into the picture with 
grand effect* These are the gateways and pavilions of the 
temple, finished in snowy white and vermilion* 

Massive roofs of thatch, a yard thick, crown all the 
buildings, and every colonnade, gallery, and courtyard is kept 
as fresh and clean as ever it was a thousand years ago* 

It is said that all the temple buildings are demolished, and 
rebuilt exactly as before, every twenty years — like the temples 
of the Shinto Mecca, Ise — a practice which has been adhered 
to ever since their foundation* They are, therefore, incom- 
parably more beautiful now than they ever could have been 
in the 2;enith of Nara^s history; for Time has worked marvels 
in their surroundings, and, with the assistance of his handmaid 
Nature, has enveloped them with an atmosphere of repose 
and beauty indescribable* One cannot help but feel that this 
is hallowed ground; the very air is heavy with the odour 
of sanctity* 

Giant wistaria vines have crept to the very utmost branches 
of the trees, and in May the tall cedars themselves seem to burst 
forth into clusters of drooping purple blooms* Through many 
an opening in the floral arches overhead the sun throws long 
shafts of light, which touch the pendent blossoms, and then, 
glancing downwards, melt moss and gravel into golden pools, 
or, searching out some spot on the brilliant lacquer, make it 
glow with ruddy fire as the great orb himself glows at daybreak* 

The deer roam undisturbed about the mossy, lanterned 
avenues, and form charming pictures as they stand framed in 
the burning lines of some vermilion gateway* Fearing no 
rebuffs, they even wander into the temple courtyards to be 
petted by the little daughters of the priests, whose duty it is 
to go through the stately measures of the ancient religious 
dance, kagura* The priests are born, live out their lives, die, 
and are buried in the heavily-scented shade of the towering 
cryptomeria-trees, and their children succeed them to live 
and die here also* 



NARA— THE HEART OF OLD JAPAN 253 

Kasuga^s galleries and colonnades are hung with innumer- 
able lanterns of carved and fretted brass and bronze* There 
are almost as many round its courtyards as there are ishi-doro 
in the gravelled avenues^ and every gentle 2;ephyr sets them 
swinging* When these are all lighted the temple must be an 
even more beautiful and wonderful sight than in the daytime* 

Pilgrims are ever haunting the sacred precincts* With 
slow step^ and eyes bright with happiness^ they softly tread 
the avenues^ kneel before every shrine^ and rest at every stall 
to feed the deer that nose around them* With staffs broad- 
brimmed hat^ and tinkling bell^ they come to Nara from the 
uttermost parts of Japan, just as they flock to Fuji and every 
place of holy fame throughout the land* 

They come alone, and they come in bands; but to one and 
all the visit is the attainment of a life-long desire* Most are 
members of some pilgrims^ club, who, when the lot falls to 
them to undertake the pilgrimage, believe in their hearts that 
they have received a special call from the gods to visit them* 
It is easy, therefore, to explain the beatitude written on their 
faces and the light of happiness in their eyes* 

Such a pilgrim is the old man in the picture* *' Years bow 
his back, a staff supports his tread,^^ yet he had come on foot 
nearly two hundred miles to this holy place* Poor and simple 
though he was, he was kind and gentle of speech, and, like his 
fellows all the country over, courteous and respectful* His 
staff and broad hat of kaia grass proclaim his mission* His 
kit he carries on his back, and his kindly, smiling face is a 
faithful index to his contented, gentle soul* At each shrine 
he visits he receives from the priests some little token, and the 
temple stamp is impressed upon some portion of his raiment* 
His needs are few and of the simplest, and his daily expenses, 
all told, aggregate but a few pence* His progress is slow, and 
perhaps he may be many months upon the road before he 
reaches home again* But what of that^* He is a type of the Old 
Japan, and in the days gone by the time spent on a pilgrimage, 
as on the production of a work of art, was never considered* 

In a pavilion of the Todaiji temple hangs the Great Bell 



254 IN LOTUS-LAND 

of Nara/ and Tddaiji is also the home of the Nara Daibutsu 
— 3, prodigious image of Buddha^ the largest in Japan^ though 
not to be compared with that at Kamakura as a work of art* 
This image dates from a^d* 749^ and was completed^ under 
the supervision of a priest named Gyogi^ in eight castings^ 
which are braced together. The head^ however^ was melted 
off during a conflagration^ and the present one was made to 
replace it towards the end of the sixteenth century* 

The great edifice containing the image was rebuilt about 
the year 1700^ but two centuries have left their mark and it 
now looks somewhat shaky* In this respect it differs from any 
other temple at Nara* One of the great pillars which support 
the roof has a hole in its base^ and those who are able to crawl 
through this hole are regarded with indulgence by the deity* 
The task is not an easy one^ and if the divine favour be sought 
it is well to repair here in early youth* One thinks of the camel 
and the needle's eye when estimating a fat man's chances of 
accomplishing the feat* 

Colossal figures of the Deva kings stand in niches at the 
principal gateway^ and every pilgrim as he passes chews a 
sheet of rice-paper to pulp and tests his favour with the gods* 
He spits^ or throws it at one of the figures^ and if it sticks it 
augurs well for the fulfilment of the desire* 

Ni-gwatsu-d5, the ^^Hall of the Second Moon/^ is another 
Buddhist temple^ very picturesquely situated on the side of a 
hill^ to which it clings by means of a scaffolding of piles* Its 
whole front is hung with metal lanterns^ and huge ishi-doro 
stand in the grounds below* Fine old stone stairways^ flanked 
with more lanterns^ lead up to its balconies^ where the pilgrims 
pause to admire the panorama over the park^ and the beauty 
of the Yamato mountains* 

There are other temples and beautiful sights far too numer- 
ous to detail here* Only a bulky volume could do duty to 
the manifold charms of Nara* 

^ Its dimensions are given on page 199. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE RAPIDS OF THE KATSURA-GAWA 

One lovely April mornings when all the land was sweet and 
smiling — ^for Nature had donned the very fairest of her dresses 
and decked herself with cherry-blossoms — two friends and I 
started for the Katsura-gawa* Though I had shot the rapids 
several times, I never tired of this beautiful river and the 
excitement of racing down its cataracts, for the brawling 
narrows and peaceful reaches, with their rocky gorges and 
forest-clad hills, had always some fresh beauty and some 
new secret to reveal* 

From Ho^u, the starting-point, to Arashiyama, at the foot 
of the rapids, is a distance of about thirteen miles, which is 
usually accomplished in an hour and a half if there is a fair 
river running* When the water rises above a certain mark at 
Ho2;u nothing will tempt the boatmen to essay the journey* 
On the other hand, if the river be too low much of the excite- 
ment of the trip is missing* If, however, one chooses a day 
when the water is just below the danger-point, even the most 
adventurous spirits will not complain of lack of excitement* 

On the present trip the river was above normal, rather 
high than low* We had made all arrangements in advance, and 
when we reached Ho2;u we found the boat ready, and in charge 
of my favourite sendo, Naojiro, one of the finest boatmen in 
Japan — a splendid athletic fellow, lithe and active as a panther, 
whose honest, sunburnt face was always wreathed in smiles* 

The boat was flat-bottomed, about thirty feet long, six 
feet wide, and a yard deep, with three thwarts to brace its 
straight sides* These Japanese river-boats are very flexible 
and frail-looking, but their staunchness is remarkable* They 
only draw two inches when empty, and about four when half 

255 



256 IN LOTUS-LAND 

a do^en people are on board; and when going over rough water 
the flat bottom yields and bends to the waves^ until it seems 
the planks must surely open up and the craft be swamped* 
It is essential that the boats should be thus pliant; if built 
rigid they would speedily be buffeted to pieces by the constant 
bumping on the water* 

Our crew consisted of four men^ besides Naojiro^ two of 
whom rowed with short sculls on the starboard side^ and one 
on the port^ whilst the fourth steered with a long yulo at 
the stern* 

For the first mile the river is wide and the current slow* 
As we pushed out into mid-stream in bright sunshine^ which 
was almost insufferably warm for the time of year^ the limpid 
water was too tempting to be resisted^ and a simultaneous and 
overpowering desire sei2;ed upon us* We looked at the crystal 
water and then at each other* There was no need for words* 
The wish was parent to the act* Bidding the boatmen go easy^ 
we quickly stripped to the buff^ and plunged headlong into 
the cool green depths* For half a mile we swam beside the 
boat^ till swirling eddies began to appear upon the surface of 
the water^ and the banks seemed to be rushing past as they 
closed in and steepened and the river narrowed for the first 
rapid* We much wanted to swim this first rapid^ as it is an 
easy one^ but the men declared they would be unable to stop 
the impetus of the boat after passing it^ and we should be carried 
down the second race^ which was too rough to attempt to swim* 
So^ much reluctant^ we had to get on board again — ^a feat 
which we found anything but easy to accomplish^ and quite 
impossible without a helping hand^ at the rate we were being 
borne along* 

One of the men now took up his position in the bow^ with 
a long bamboo pole to push the craft from any rock that 
might threaten; and the rowers rested on their oars as the 
boat slipped down the narrow^ with only an occasional touch 
of the helmsman^s yulo to guide it* 

The gentle^ smiling stream on whose placid bosom we had 
started now became a thing of moods* It danced and gurgled 



THE RAPIDS OF THE KATSURA-GAWA 257 

with glee; then for a few brief moments it shrank back into 
itself^ as if startled at its own audacity^ and^ hugging the over- 
hanging rocks^ became Nature's looking-glass^ and mirrored 
snowy clouds^ and beetling crags^ and woodland foliage in its 
depths* It was but the transitory humour of a moment. The 
mood quickly changed again; the waters grew troubled and 
restless^ and^ lashing themselves into a passion^ dashed in 
impotent rage against the rocks* Then they calmed once 
more and purred with pleasure^ and the sun beat down with 
scorching power into the stilly glen^ and the scenery grew 
weirdly beautiful — ^like that of old Chinese paintings* 

But a distant murmur marked the approach of another 
change of mood* The murmur became a growl^ and then an 
angry roar of fury^ as the stream took the boat into its arms 
and drew it along with irresistible power* It was Fudo-no- 
taki^ the ^* God-of- Wisdom Fall/' that we were approaching^ 
one of the finest of all the rapids — a, long^ narrow incline^ 
about eight yards wide and a hundred yards in lengthy down 
which the river^ gathering all its waters together^ shoots with 
terrific force* 

Naojiro now took the bow position^ and^ at his word^ the 
rowers shipped their oars^ and the helmsman^ with a dip of 
his yulo^ sent the boat straight for the curling vortex that 
rolled over the brink of the torrent* 

In a twinkling we were dashing down the foaming chute 
at dizzy speedy the thin^ pliant bottom of the boat rising and 
falling in undulations from stem to stern as it beat upon the 
waves* At the end of this watery slope there is a level reach^ 
and as the descending flood meets it^ is tossed in a great wave 
into the air* Over this the boat leapt^ with the impulse it had 
gained^ all quivering and trembling like a living things and 
well drenching us all with spray as the prow dug deep into the 
foam* With another bound it leapt into the smooth water 
beyond^ and we drifted quietly along^ amidst glorious scenery 
with pine and maple forests to the mountain-tops* 

After a series of lesser rapids we came to Koya-no-taki^ 
the '*Hut Fall/' with a great boulder in the middle of a 



258 IN LOTUS-LAND 

horse-shoe curve^ and a drop of five feet where the water 
sweeps over a submerged shelf of rock* 

The now maddened river seethed and roared, and no other 
sound could be heard for the thunder of its waters, as straight 
towards the fall we flew* The captain never glanced behind 
him; he knew his men too welL Each was ready at his post, 
with pole poised in hand, and each knew the spot for which 
to aim* It seemed we must inevitably be dashed to pieces as 
the boulder raced towards us, but, just as the crash was im- 
minent, Naojiro^s pole flew out into a tiny hole in the slippery 
boulder^s side* Simultaneously three other poles darted out 
as well* There was a jerk, a momentary vision of four figures 
putting forth their utmost strength and bending with all their 
strength against the rock, and the swirling waters rose level 
with the starboard gunwale, as for an instant our speed was 
checked, and the boiling current banked up against the boat* 
But it was only for a m^oment* The helmsman swung the 
stern round, and the great ungainly craft, gra2;ing the boulder 
as it did so, took the curve and sprang over the waterfall 
like a fish* 

It is wonderful how skilfully these Japanese boatmen dodge 
these death-traps* A fraction of a second's hesitation at such 
a place, and the boat would be broadside to the stream and 
dashed against some rock and overturned, and the strongest 
swimmer's skill could avail him little here* 

At critical places all down the river, a keen observer may 
notice little niches in the rocks, just large enough to admit 
the top of a bamboo pole* These are not made by hand, but, 
incredible as it may seem, are worn by the poles themselves, 
by centuries of use in log rafting and taking merchandise down 
the river* They bear testimony to the necessity of gauging the 
distance to an inch in order to navigate a difficult place in safety* 

Rapid after rapid followed in quick succession — Takase- 
no-taki, the ''High Rapid,'' in the midst of lovely scenery; 
Shishi-no-kuchi-no-taki, the "'Lion's -Mouth Fall"; and 
Nerito, named after the famous whirlpool at the entrance to 
the Inland Sea* Nerito is the most spectacular of all* It is a 



THE RAPIDS OF THE KATSURA-GAWA 259 

short rapid, but it has two difficult curves with rocky walls 
between which the roaring river sweeps at tremendous speed* 

Our boat hesitated for an instant on the rounded lip of 
green water at the top of the fall, and then plunged for the 
precipitous wall on the left at such speed that this time it 
seemed no power could save us* But Naojiro's clever hand 
was ready, and his eye was focussed on a certain spot* Out 
shot his poised bamboo at the critical moment straight into a 
little crevice, and throwing his weight on to the pole, he sheered 
off the bow from the rock, and the boat went sweeping past 
the precipice, to be caught into the vortex again so easily that 
we loudly cheered him for such masterly handling of his craft* 
He turned round for a moment to show his good-natured, 
sunburnt face beaming with pleasure at our appreciation of 
his skill, as he thanked us "'Domo arigato**' 

These boatmen do their work so unostentatiously and 
skilfully that it seems to be quite easy* What difficult feat 
when performed by an expert does not seem easy to the 
uninitiated $* But Naojiro told me that he dared not let his 
attention wander for a second in such places, as if he slipped, 
or missed his mark, the boat would immediately be wrecked* 

We passed many boats being towed up-stream, closely 
hugging the bank, with the trackers straining at the tow-ropes 
just as Hokusai painted them nearly a century ago* Again, 
some lonely fisherman standing on a jutting rock, with his 
straw coat thrown about him to protect him from the sun, and 
a broad hat of reeds on his head, was another Hokusai study* 
When one sees these quaint figures of rustic Japan in the flesh, 
one realises how true to life was the work of the old master* 

The scenery became more beautiful still as we neared the 
journey's end* In the forests that clothed the mountain-sides 
cherry-trees in blossom were lovely colour-spots everywhere, 
and when the Kiyotaki came bounding and dancing to the 
parent river between rocky precipices — to which old bristling 
pine-trees clung tenaciously — ^we had to bid the boatmen 
stop for awhile that we might more leisurely absorb the 
beauty of it all* At the meeting of the waters a lofty bridge 



26o IN LOTUS-LAND 

leaps from cliff to cliff across the foaming tributary — a scene 
immortalised in art by Hiroshige in one of his most famous 
paintings^ After feasting our eyes long on this beautiful scene^ 
we pushed off again and glided among tiny islets^ and the river^ 
expanding wide^ became peaceful and almost still — ^as if the 
worn-out waters rested after the torments they had suffered ♦ 

We seemed to be floating on some mythical stream that 
flowed through Fields Elysian — ^where storms never raged> 
and winter's blighting hand never robbed the forests of their 
springtime beauty; and where the blessed might find rest and 
spend all Eternity drifting under the fragrant pine-trees^ or 
basking in the sunshine by waters beautiful and musical as 
the fairest streams of Arcadia* 

It was Arashiyama^ beloved of poets and painters — one 
of the fairest spots in this land that Nature adorned when in 
the kindest of her moods* The mountain-side was pink and 
green with cherry-blossoms and pine and maple trees that 
strove to hide each other; and in the emerald river great trout 
sported among the blossoms reflected in its depths* Red old 
firs leant over the water^ stooping to the mirror below them; 
and framed among the cherry-trees were dainty tea-houses 
with broad verandas^ where lovers of the beautiful come and 
sit all day and feast their eyes on the sumptuous repast which 
Nature has provided* 

In boats^ yuloed lazily along by old sendos who had spent 
their lives upon the river^ pleasure-parties, with faces uplifted, 
were gazing in wonder and rapture at the harmony of pink and 
green above them* Other pleasure-seekers were rambling 
along the avenued river-sides, and the twanging of samisens 
in the tea-houses told us that some of the nature-lovers 
were enjoying their aesthetic revels in the society of the 
merry geisha* 

At Saga, a village on the eastern bank, we paid off our 
boatmen, and never did we pay money more willingly for any 
excursion in Japan* Here a row of restaurants faces the river, 
and a slender wooden bridge crosses it* Saga's one street is 
a bazaar of shops for the sale of walking-sticks and household 




A GLEN ON THE KATSURAGAWA 



THE RAPIDS OF THE KATSURA-GAWA 261 

ornaments made of cherry-wood^ and beautiful stones from 
the river* Stones of good shape^ from celebrated places^ are 
much sought after by the Japanese, who esteem such natural 
articles highly; for specimens resembling some well-known 
island, or famous rock, high prices can be obtained* I have 
seen a stone, well covered with a much-admired kind of moss, 
in a dealer's window in Tokyo, for which a hundred yen (ten 
pounds) was asked — ^and it was not more than a foot in length. 
At Saga, however, beautiful specimens from the river may 
be purchased for a few shillings* 

Once I was invited by the courteous manager of the Miyako 
Hotel to accompany him in a trip up the river* This is even 
more interesting and exciting than the down-stream journey, 
for one has plenty of time to admire the scenery; moreover, 
the races and rapids — ^which the boat slips down so easily- 
present quite a different aspect when one is being towed 
slowly and laboriously up them* 

We had my favourite crew, with Naojiro at the bow, and 
one extra man to tow, making six all told* No steersman was 
necessary, as the captain kept the boat clear of the rocks with 
his bamboo pole* The towing-lines varied in length from 
seventy to a hundred feet, so that each man had plenty of room 
to himself without interfering with the others* 

It was May, and the azaleas, which covered many of the 
hill-sides, were a lovely contrast to the deep green of the 
woods* In the depths of the gorge the heat was scorching, and 
the trackers, stripped of everything save straw sandals and 
loin-cloths, resembled ivory carvings as their sleek bodies 
shone in the sun* With the agility of mountain-goats they 
leapt from rock to rock; but, though they put forth all their 
strength into the harness round their lusty chests, their 
clean-cut limbs never bulged with ugly knots of muscle* 

At almost every touch of Naojiro's pole, at difficult places, 
it fitted into one of the little holes before referred to; and 
from time to time, when some rocky weir stood barrier 
before them, the trackers hauled in the ropes and crossed in 
the boat to the opposite shore* At one place they all came 



262 IN LOTUS-LAND 

aboard and took to the poles^ with ourselves lending a hand to 
help; but our united strength did not avail to keep the bow 
to the stream^ and the current^ whirling the light craft rounds 
swept it broadside along towards a great boulder in the centre 
of the river* 

Here the amazing alertness of the men was manifested in 
a thrilling manner* It was quite an unexpected incident^ due 
to the fact that the boat drew so much water^ as^ including my 
camera-coolies^ there were eleven people in it — an altogether 
unprecedented number in taking a boat up the river* The 
current swung us round so quickly^ once the boat^s head lost 
the stream^ that the peril was on us almost before we saw it* 
But Naojiro saw^ and gave a shout of warning, and in a twink- 
ling all were on the side where danger threatened* Every pole 
struck at once, and bent almost to the breaking point as the 
men threw their weight and strength against the boulder, 
round which the water rose high and boiled in baffled fury* 
It was a breathless moment — but moment only, for the impact 
was avoided, and we swept past the great stone, and well clear 
of it, to safety; but admiration filled us at the skill these 
sterling fellows had shown* Had we struck, nothing could 
have prevented our undoing, for the current there was a good 
twelve knots* We all got out, except the captain, and scrambled 
over the rocks to the quiet water above this place, and the 
boat, freed from our weight, was then easily pulled up without 
more ado* 

Then came Koya-no-taki, where the five-foot waterfall 
bars the way* We thought it impossible to surmount this 
formidable obstacle; but Naojiro only smiled and called to 
his minions to haul in closer on the lines* Bracing his feet 
against the starboard side and his pole against the rock, and 
bending his supple body with all his strength of sinew to 
the task, he gave a word of command to the trackers, who 
pulled together with a will, lifting the prow up the watery 
wall as if some unseen power below impelled it, and we 
slid slowly to the higher level, scarcely shipping more than a 
bucket of water in doing so* 



THE RAPIDS OF THE KATSURA-GAWA 263 

At Nerito the straining trackers went on all-fours^ gripping 
the rocks with hands and toes^ and the torrent rose to the 
gunwale on either side* It seemed incredible that five men 
could pull so large and heavy a boat up such a swirling flood; 
but inch by inch they did it^ and when^ at lengthy we floated 
in the smooth green water at the top^ and looked back on the 
roaring tumult^ the feat seemed more wonderful stilL 

Once I attempted the up-stream journey with a less skilful 
crew and a smaller boat, for my favourites were engaged* At 
Koya-no-taki we met disaster* As he gave the word of com- 
mand to pull, the captain missed his mark and sent the bow 
under the fall, nearly swamping us* At our shouts the trackers 
dropped the ropes, and the boat, full to the thwarts, was 
carried back with great force against a rock, which stove the 
top planks in for ten feet on one side* Fortunately, this rapid 
is a short one, and we drifted to shore in the reach below 
without further harm* 

The men who pilot tourists down are all masters of their 
craft, and take pride in the fact that they have never lost a 
visitor's life* They dare not risk the revenue they get by this 
occupation, from both foreigners and Japanese, by entrusting 
the boats to unskilful hands* The men I had engaged on the 
day of this adventure were not master-hands, and told me so 
at the outset; but they were the only men available, as I had 
come without notice, and it is quite an unusual thing for any 
one to go up the rapids* 

In these rugged volcanic islands every river is a torrent, 
and the men who make a living on them, and the fishermen 
around the coasts, are the class from which Japan recruits her 
tars* For agility, resource, and skill in their calling, I know no 
finer type of men in all the world* The boatmen of the Katsura- 
gawa are as picturesque as the scenes amidst which they 
labour are beautiful* Any visitor to Kyoto who omits to take 
this lovely trip misses some of the finest scenery, some of the 
most interesting people, and one of the most enjoyable and 
exhilarating experiences to be had in all Japan* 



CHAPTER XVIII 

HIKONE AND ITS CASTLE 

The province of Omi, one of the most celebrated in Japan^ is 
equally renowned for the beauty of its scenery as for the web 
of historical memories and legend with which it is interwoven 
from end to end* Biwa-Ko^ the largest of Japanese lakes^ 
lies in its hearty filling about one-fifth of the whole province 
with its waters* Its length is thirty-six miles^ thrice its 
greatest width, and the depth in places is said to be about 
fifty fathoms* 

This is the lake which, according to tradition, fills the great 
depression that appeared in the earth during a violent seismic 
disturbance one night in the year 286 B*c*, when Fuji-san 
burst upwards from the plains of Suruga* Tradition or fact, 
there is nothing geologically illogical about such an event in 
this volcanic-studded land, where the thin crust covering the 
eternal fires so frequently trembles; and it is only to be ex- 
pected that a sheet of water which claims its origin in such an 
occurrence should have lived up to the remarkable circum- 
stances of its birth by enshrining itself in beauty and legend* 
Some of the legends are to be found in most books on 
Japan; but about one of the most charming of Biwa^s beauty 
spots I have never found more than a few lines in any 
book at all* Hikdne is its name — a little town standing on 
the east of Biwa^s shores, a place about which my memory 
lingers fondly* 

One early summer^s day as I was whirled up to the porch 
of the Ha-kei-tei Hotel in a rikisha I was greeted by the assem- 
bled female staff with the customary chorus of welcome, only 
here the welcome seemed more than usually warm and sincere* 
As we entered the hotel grounds I could hear the shrill voice 

264 




REFLECTIONS 



HIKONE AND ITS CASTLE 265 

of the head maid-servant — who, as at most Japanese hotels, 
was more remarkable for her virtues and length of service 
than for her good looks — calling to the younger girls, as she 
detected the sound of rikisha wheels on the graveL ** O Kyaku- 
san! O Kyaku-sanT^ ('*An honourable guest T^) she cried, 
and as my kurumaya dropped the shafts at the great wide 
doorstep, the little neisans came running from every direction, 
with many bows, to take my luggage* 

When I had removed my boots — ^for one never enters a 
Japanese native style hotel with boots on — one of the neisans 
led me to my room* As we passed along a dark corridor I had 
the misfortune to bump my head against a beam in its low 
ceiling* This mishap proved altogether too much for the 
composure of the little maid* She leaned against the wall, 
laughing till the tears filled her eyes, and the whole establish- 
ment, coming to see what was the matter, and finding me 
ruefully rubbing my pate, laughed as well* The little incident 
put us all on good terms at once, and every member of the 
domestic staff was soon my friend; and when one makes 
friends with the staff at a Japanese inn, they in turn do every- 
thing to make one's stay as pleasant as possible* 

The hotel is entrancingly situated by a miniature lake in 
one of the most famous gardens in Japan; and the room to 
which I was shown was built out over the water with a ver- 
anda on three sides of it* This ornamental sheet of water is 
a facsimile of Lake Biwa, all the famous sights of which are 
duplicated in the miniature* There is a long rustic bridge 
representing "'The Long Bridge of Seta''; a maple-clad hill 
stands for the mountain Ishiyama, and another one is Hira- 
yama — the ^* evening snow'' on the original of which is the 
second of the ''Eight Sights of Omi" in native estimation* 
There is even a curiously-trained pine-tree as proxy for the 
veteran of Karasaki — ^the arboreal giant of Japan, and one of 
the most curious trees in the world* The ** Karasaki-no-matsu," 
on the opposite shore of Lake Biwa, is not only the greatest 
pine-tree in Japan, but also the most sacred* This patriarch, 
though now not more than forty feet high, has branches which 



266 IN LOTUS-LAND 

stretch their crooked length well over a hundred feet from 
the old trunk* They are supported on a forest of props^ and 
are so low that one has to duck one^s head to pass under them* 
All holes in the trunk are made water-tight with plaster^ and 
a roof over the broken top keeps the rain from entering and 
hastening decay* 

The pine in the Ha-kei-tei garden is not of any great age — 
a mere century or two — nor is it large^ but it is very picturesque* 
During my stay two gardeners spent the greater part of three 
days going over all its branches and carefully plucking out 
about three-fourths of its needles* This was done with a double 
object — ^to give it that spiky appearance so greatly admired 
by the Japanese^ and also to stunt its growth* Pine trees in 
Japanese gardens are subjected to this treatment every two 
months, and to root-pruning once a year* 

The Ha-kei-tei garden was a never-ending source of 
delight to me* I was always finding some new and lovely peep 
through its maple-trees, or among its islands and the bays 
and gulfs and outlets of its lake* Every evening carp nibbled 
noisily at the lily leaves, and swallows fluttered over the surface 
of the lake* The swallows nested under the eaves of the hotel 
and even inside its porches* This is considered a lucky omen* 
No Japanese would think of disturbing a swallow which took 
up its abode in his house* 

Another and larger hotel — the Raku-raku-tei — ^has a 
garden adjoining, but although it also has a "Uake,"' no fish 
nibble at the lily leaves, for the lake is only an imaginary one, 
and has no water in it* This garden is in the severest Cha-no-yu 
style, and the lake is simply a bed of pebbles, with islands, 
bridges, overhanging pines, stepping-stones, and all — every- 
thing save water, which the imagination of this highly idealistic 
people easily supplies* 

These gardens were formerly the pleasure-grounds of one 
of the most powerful feudal families, whose fine old castle 
stands on a hill overlooking them* The last feudal lord, or 
Daimyo, of the Hikdne clan was li-Kamon-no-Kami, the sage 
and diplomatic noble who acted as Regent for the young 



HIKONE AND ITS CASTLE 267 

Shogun lemochi in the troublous times preceding the Re- 
formation* For leaving this lovely country-seat and mixing 
himself up in politics he paid penalty with his life; he was 
assassinated in front of the General Staff Office in Tokyo on 
the 24th March^ i86o* His castle (O-shiro) is one of the very 
few of such edifices now remaining in Japan* Shortly after 
the period of Meiji was inaugurated the Japanese^ disgusted 
with everything of their own creation^ were seisjed with a 
mania for razing all such structures to the ground* The 
destruction of Hik5ne castle had already commenced^ when 
it so happened that the Emperor Mutsohito^ being at that 
time on a journey to Kyoto^ passed this way^ and seeing what 
the local officials had begun to do^ he commanded them to 
desist* Thus the old castle was rescued from the fate which 
threatened it^ and it stands to-day one of the finest and most 
picturesque feudal features of Japan* 

It was the custom in the old days for a Daimyo^ when he 
found his bones ripening with years^ to abdicate in favour of 
his son* When such an event happened at Hikone the ex-lord 
retired to one of the residences^ now turned into hotels^ in 
the castle grounds* It was in one of these charming houses 
that I now found myself^ and as I stood by the shoji of my 
room on the evening of my arrival I wondered if any other 
place in the world could be more serenely restful* I stepped 
out on to the veranda^ and immediately great carp^ which 
had been loafing on the muddy bottom of the lake^ glided up 
to the surface^ just below me^ sticking their heads almost out 
of the water in the expectation of being fed* 

I wandered out into the garden among the maples and 
stone-lanterns^ and found an almost hidden path^ walled in 
on either side with blocks of rough-quarried stone* This led 
to a stairway in the outer wall of the castle^ the steps of which 
ended in Biwa lake* It was one of the most beautiful and 
romantic spots I have ever seen* The reeds growing far out 
into the shallow water were full of frogs^ and the very air was 
ringing with their croaking* Every now and then some solitary 
crow^ flapping his way la2;ily overhead^ would augment this 



268 IN LOTUS-LAND 

evening chorus with a few hoarse caws; and the crickets, 
which were just tuning up for the night, added a shrill soprano 
accompaniment. 

Rugged, purple mountains were reflected in the lake, the 
surface of which was broken only by the ever-widening 
ripples in the wake of a boat which was approaching, whilst 
the sendo sang a song as he slowly yuloed it. The boat came 
across the foreground of the picture, and pulled up at the 
mossy stairway where I stood. Imagination was beginning 
to conjure up all sorts of possibilities about it, and the tubs 
with which it was laden, when a coolie came down the stairway 
bearing two other similar tubs on a yoke across his shoulders. 
Alas! my dream was over, for the aroma which insulted the 
air told that his burden, and the cargo of the singing boatman^s 
craft, was manure for the rice-crops. Such is Japan! Whilst 
there is ^'so much that appeals to the eye, there is also not a 
little that appeals to the nose,*^ as Professor Chamberlain 
archly remarks; and these rude shocks to the senses are but 
too common. 

I turned away and wandered over towards the hill on 
which the castle stands. Its slopes are thickly covered with 
pine and maple-woods, where the hawks breed unmolested 
and are always soaring in the skies. At the bottom of the hill 
there is a broad moat banked high with sloping walls of stone. 
The water is much overgrown with aquatic plants, and there 
are many curious bamboo fish-traps in it. As I stood beside 
the quaint old bridge — ^which stretches over the moat in a 
single span supported by many props — ^watching the afterglow 
playing pretty tricks of colour in the water, the daylight waned 
away, and I heard the tramp of men-at-arms and the sound 
of horses* hoofs coming down the roadway from the castle. 
First, through the gateway and across the bridge came swift 
outrunners to clear the way; then at the head of the band 
appeared mounted knights, clad cap-d-pie in lacquered armour 
— cuirass, morion, tasses, and all — and with swords stuck in 
their girdles and gleaming spears butted in their stirrups. 
Behind them marched the foot-soldiers, clad in armour too. 




A FEUDAL CASTLE, FROM THE MOAT 



HIKONfi AND ITS CASTLE 269 

with bows and arrows slung across their shoulders and a pair 
of swords in every belt* On they came^ making the old wooden 
bridge shake and echo with their tramping^ and swung along 
the road with swaggering air and short quick steps towards 
the town* In the middle of the train was a mettlesome cob^ 
ridden by a noble figure of a warrior clad in vermilion lacquer 
and mail^ with enormous wings spreading from his helmet 
and white plumes dancing between them* I knew him for the 
Daimyo at a glance* It was the feudal lord of Hikone, going 
off^ perchance, to make a raid upon the Daimyo of some 
neighbouring province* I watched them pass along the road 
and disappear into the twilight, among the leaning pine-trees 
and the cloud of dust raised by their feet* When the tramping 
died away in the distance I turned hotel-wards along the bank 
of the beautiful old moat, and into the dust which still hung 
in the air — only it was not dust at all, but a film of night-mist 
rising from the water, and the Daimyo and his samurai were 
but a vision, born of the reverie into which I had fallen* A 
few days before, I had seen, in Kyoto, a pageant of an old-time 
feudal procession which once every year leaves the Imperial 
Palace and proceeds to the ancient Shinto temple of Shimo 
Gamo* Each participant was clad in armour to represent a 
samurai or his feudal chief; and as I stood in the twilight on 
this romantic spot, imagination, responding to the surround- 
ings, had seized the opportunity to make them the setting 
for a vision of the spectacle I had lately seen* 

All night long, as I lay in comfortable futons on the floor 
of the old Daimyo house, I had a vague consciousness of 
samurai clattering down the hill, and of fish leaping in the 
moat* There was nothing unreal about the sounds, however, 
for whenever I woke up — as I did several times — I heard the 
carp splashing in the lake, and the rats were scurrying noisily 
over the thin, resounding boards of the ceiling overhead* 

The next morning I went up to the castle, and apropos of 
this visit I find these lines in my notebook: 

** If I only make one visit to this castle it will always remain 
in my mind in connection with a crowd of hundreds of school- 



270 IN LOTUS-LAND 

children who have come to picnic for the day in the castle 
grounds* They are in the charge of their teachers^ and are 
running all over the old courtyard and woods^ shouting 
with delight* 

"'The natives have girded their loins to do justice to the 
occasion^ and justice is undoubtedly being done* The cake- 
man^ the fruit-man^ the iced-drinks-man^ the air-balloon- 
man^ the ice-cream-man and the toy-woman — all are here* 
There is also an itinerant merchant who has a number of small 
tubs of different coloured sweetstuffs^ and when young Japan 
presents his farthings he gets a cockle-shell heaped up with 
the sweetmeat in layers of blue^ red^ green^ yellow^ and white* 
There is another old fellow^ old as old can be^ with face as 
wrinkled as the rind of a musk-melon^ whose trade it is to dip 
from a bowl of batter a small portion^ and spread it on the face 
of a sheet of bron2;e laid over the glowing embers of a hibachi* 
He flattens the sputtering mess out with a stick, until it is as 
thin as a wafer, and in an instant it is cooked* Then he takes 
in his hand a lump of sticky sugar and ground rice and rolls 
it out between his palms till it is four inches long; this he lays 
on the cookie and rolls all up together* About these stalls 
children of assorted ages, from six to sixteen, flock like moths 
around a candle, and the small coin of the realm is quickly 
finding its way out of the purses in the children's girdles to 
the pile of copper before each vendor**' 

But during this, my first, and subsequent visits to Hikdne 
I made more than one visit to the castle, when it was quite 
deserted, and explored every nook and corner of its halls and 
garrets* In one of the rooms of the keep a fine display of old 
armour is preserved* Several suits that belonged to the Daimyo 
are magnificent examples of the Japanese armourers' art* 
They are made of many small strips of iron, coated with 
vermilion lacquer and fastened together with leather thongs 
and silken cords* His helmets, kabuto, have immense horns 
or wings — ^like those on the petasus of Mercury, only much 
larger — and between them hangs an enormous white plume, 
which, when in use, must have fallen well below his eyes* 



HIKONE AND ITS CASTLE 271 

There are swords and spears of such workmanship and 
mounting as to delight the soul of any one who loves 
such things^ and many other valuable relics of the old- 
time days* 

The keep^ or what is usually called the '* castle/' was never 
at any time the residence of the Daimyo* It was simply a 
stronghold to which he and his family might retreat as a last 
resource if driven to bay. It is constructed of uncemented 
stone^ each block being shaped to fit exactly amongst its neigh- 
bours ♦ Within the castle compound^ near the keep^ there is a 
belfry with a fine old bronze bell^ whose tone is of the sweetest 
and can be heard for many miles when the air is stilL The 
compound is protected by a deep^ dry moat^ between high 
walls^ and it is crossed by drawbridges^ similar to those of 
our own feudal times. 

Enclosed within the castle precincts there were formerly 
many houses where the Daimyo and his retainers dwelt^ 
but these unfortunately had been pulled down before the 
Emperor stopped the work of destruction. The views from 
some of them must have been exceedingly beautiful^ for the 
panorama overlooking the gardens below and Lake Biwa^ with 
its numerous islands^ and away over the rice-fields to the 
purple mountains, is one long to be remembered. 

The largest of all the Japanese feudal strongholds was 
Osaka castle, the keep and buildings of which were burnt 
during the revolutionary struggles in 1868. Its walls, however, 
remain, and can certainly claim front rank among the mural 
wonders of the world. 

To quote from the Letters of Will Adams^ that brave 
Kentish navigator — ^the first Englishman to live in Japan — 
who in all his words and actions was such a gallant gentle- 
man: "'The stones are great, of an excellent quarry, and are 
cut so exactly to fit the place where they are laid, that no mortar 
is used, but onely earth cast betweene to fill up voyd creuises 
if any be.'" 

Nobody could accuse the modest sailor of exaggeration, 
for some of the granite blocks in the castle walls are forty feet 



272 IN LOTUS-LAND 

in length and ten feet high, and are said to be eight feet thick* 
The moat is in proportion to the leviathan stones in the walls; 
it varies from 250 to 360 feet in width* 

Perhaps I may be permitted here to intrude an incident 
that occurred at Osaka* I had set up my camera by the moat 
to make a photography when I noticed some soldiers watching 
me from the walls* They disappeared and came back again 
with several others; then all retreated from view* Shortly 
afterwards I saw a commotion by the drawbridge; an officer 
and a number of men engaged in a discussion were carefully 
observing me* The officer then gave some instructions^ and a 
squad of men marched over the bridge and along the moat-side 
in my direction* When they reached me^ one of them^ who 
spoke excellent English, thus addressed me: 

*^You must excuse me, but I must arrest you* It is for- 
bidden to sketch the castle**' 

I therefore excused him and submitted to the inevitable, 
and was conducted, camera, cases, and all, into the castle* 
There I was given to understand by a sergeant that I had 
committed a serious offence in attempting to photograph the 
walls, and on my War Office permits being examined it was 
pointed out that although many other fortified areas were 
included in my permission to use a camera, Osaka was omitted* 
As Osaka is only a garrison town, and possesses no fortifi- 
cations, I had not thought it necessary to stipulate for its 
mention in my permit to photograph in certain military 
areas* I explained this to my interrogator* He had, however, 
no power to release me until another officer came, and I was 
detained in the guard-room for several hours — the butt for 
the wit of the men, whose veneer of courtesy quickly rubbed 
off when they found they had the whip-hand of a foreigner 
for the time being* 

Finally an officer, quite a young man, arrived and cross- 
examined me* After asking my name and nationality — ^both of 
which were clearly defined in my permit — ^he demanded to 
know if I were a Russian* On my assuring him that I was not, 
and that my country was stated in the document which I had 



HIKONE AND ITS CASTLE 273 

handed to him^ he asked me, **Are you quite sure you are 
not a Russian $"^ 

I told him there was no shadow of doubt in my mind on 
the point; which answer evoked the further question^ '*Who 
is your father $"' 

Becoming a little nettled at such vacuous interrogations^ 
I replied that he was the son of my grandfather and was 
a good many thousand miles away at the moment^ and 
that I did not consider it necessary to draw him into the 
matter at alL 

After admonishing me, as he might have scolded a child, 
he graciously permitted me to go* In an hour I returned to 
the castle, and, handing my card to the sergeant of the guard, 
requested him to send it in to the Commandant* This he did, 
and I had the pleasure of being received and entertained with 
wine and cigars, and afterwards being shown all over the castle 
enclosure by the courteous old soldier, much to the chagrin 
of the lieutenant who had questioned me so ridiculously, 
and who, it seemed, was the Commandant^s aide-de-camp* 
Japan is no exception to other countries in respect of the 
officiousness of underlings* 

To return, however, to Hikdne, a very favourite amusement 
of the Japanese ^* upper crust,^' when visiting the province of 
Omi, is to go to a spot on the shores of Lake Biwa, near where 
the Seiri-gawa runs into the lake, and there watch the fisher- 
men drag a net* There is a long stretch of shingly beach, where 
small tea-houses are to be found* In these houses those who 
seek this form of diversion sit and picnic, as they watch the 
fishermen get out a seine net of enormous length and take it 
out into the lake* It requires several boats to pull it, and an 
hour or more to cover an area sufficient to ensure a good catch* 
The net is then drawn in to the shore near the tea-houses, 
and the party select from the spoils such fish as they desire, 
which are cooked and eaten on the spot* 

The pleasure-seekers, whether they come to see the fishing 
or the castle, never fail to visit the gardens, for above every- 
thing else the Japanese love a garden* Consequently there is 



274 IN LOTUS-LAND 

seldom a day when the bright kimonos of geisha cannot be 
seen like pretty butterflies flitting amongst the trees* In the 
summer evenings their laughter^ their songs and the twanging 
of their samisens sound merrily over the lake; and as they 
sit^ with shoji open^ watching the fire-flies flashing across the 
water, it needs little effort of imagination to turn the gay 
beauties into the dainty Japanese ladies who lived here in 
the old-time days* 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE GREAT VOLCANOES^ ASO-SAN AND ASAMA-YAMA 

The Japanese archipelago is undoubtedly the most active 
centre of the world's seismic disturbances; and little wonder^ 
for the islands bristle with volcanoes, and seethe with sol- 
fataras and hot-springs* Few are the weeks I have spent in 
the capital without experiencing at least one earthquake* I 
have even felt several in a night, and tremors for several nights 
in succession* The moment a ** jishin ** begins, one's thoughts 
fly to subterranean fires, and thence — ^what more natural 
than to volcanoes $* 

The two most active volcanoes in Japan are Aso-san and 
Asama-yama. Aso-san, in the heart of the island of Kyushiu, 
is not only the largest active volcano in Japan, but can boast 
that its ancient, outer crater is the largest on the earth* Aso 
is, however, far from the beaten track, and so is very seldom 
visited, as its ascent entails a four-days journey from the 
distant port of Nagasaki* But Asama can easily be ascended 
by any good walker in a three-days absence from Tokyo; 
and being so accessible, as well as the highest active volcano 
in Japan, a good many enthusiasts make the ascent every year* 

The two volcanoes are as different in appearance as they 
are in temperament, and neither has any pretensions to the 
almost perfect outline of Fuji-san* The peerless Fuji has the 
comely form of youth, whereas Asama is rounded with age, 
and Aso's original crater is now filled with the accumulated 
ashes of centuries* Though only a fraction of Aso's once 
colossal crater is now active, even that fraction is larger than 
any other crater in Japan* Aso is, however, an even-tempered 
volcano, and it is not often that its steady cloud of smoke 
and steam varies in volume; whereas Asama is a fretful and 

T 275 



276 IN LOTUS-LAND 

irritable mountain^ subject to exceedingly violent outbursts* 
Sometimes Asama is restless for days together^ and explosions 
occur every few hours; then it calms itself and is peaceful 
for many weeks before the angry mood returns* 

One hot August night I started for Kumamoto^ en route 
for Aso-san* Soon after leaving Nagasaki a thunderstorm 
broke^ and raged with truly tropical severity* For over an hour 
the lightning was so incessant that the train was illuminated 
as though by daylight* In one minute I counted over seventy 
flashes; this was about the average of each minute for over 
an hour^ and the noise of the train was completely drowned 
in the ceaseless overlapping crashes of the thunders* As we 
flew past hills and valleys and rice-fields in the nighty every 
mile of that beautiful Kyushiu country was brilliantly illum- 
ined by the flickering lightnings whilst a deluge poured from 
the skies such as I have not seen equalled even in the tropical 
rains of Java* Then the flashes became less frequent^ and the 
scenery was revealed in a series of brilliant pictures* At one 
moment a village was a typical scene of nighty with only a 
light showing here and there* Then the lights disappeared^ 
as though extinguished^ and every house^ and window, and 
bamboo fence stood out as clearly as if in sunlight* So the 
wonderful play of day and night continued for a further hour, 
dispelling all thoughts of sleep* 

Early the next morning we arrived at the historic old town 
of Kumam6t5s and, after settling our things at a hotel, and 
having breakfast, we went out to see Suisenji park — one of 
the most celebrated pleasure-gardens in Japan* The weather 
was almost unbearably hot — over 90° F* in the shade — but 
the park was at its fairest* Gentle little neisans invited us to 
take tea as we entered the gates, but we ordered shaved ice 
and fruit syrup instead, and lay on the turf in the shade 
to sip it, whilst we revelled in the lovely summer scenes 
around us* 

There was a large but very shallow lake, with water clear 
as the crystal of wisdom in the forehead of Buddha* It was 
studded with pretty islands, covered with dwarf trees, old 



THE GREAT VOLCANOES 277 

stone lanterns^ and summer-houses; stone and rustic bridges 
stretched over the water^ and temples^ torii^ crooked pines, 
and banana-trees were scattered about the garden everywhere, 
A miniature artificial Fuji-san graced the opposite shore of 
the lake^ and beyond it the eternal smoke cloud of the great 
Aso rose into the heavens* The broiling August sun glinted 
on the brown and azure wings of a thousand dragon-flies 
darting about the surface of the lake^ and great carp glided 
over the gravel and in and out about the water-plants^ in 
water not a do2;en inches deep; whilst the air shrilled with 
the unceasing screams of myriads of cicadas ♦ Scores of tiny 
girls and boys were paddling in the water or scampering over 
the grass — innocent of a stitch of clothing — making the place 
echo with their happy shouts of laughter* The whole scene 
was an idyll of innocent happiness and beauty* 

At one end of this Arcadian paradise the water deepens, 
and here a score of boys and adult men were bathing and 
frolicking about the banks — ^as naked as the children — ^whilst 
fair and dainty promenaders of all ages walked amongst them 
unembarrassed, not even noticing the nudity around them* 

Early the next morning we started, by basha, on the 
twenty-mile journey to Toshita village, from which we were 
to make the ascent of the great volcano* The road is a very 
fine one, well drained and of excellent surface, and avenued 
with tall cryptomeria-trees the greater part of the way* The 
scenery too, in places, is magnificent* Nearing Toshita the 
road wound along the side of a deep gorge, every yard of the 
steep bank of which was wonderfully terraced with rice-fields* 
The air was filled with the soft murmur of tiny streams that 
fell everywhere from terrace to terrace, until they finally leapt 
over the cliffs into the foaming torrent a hundred yards below* 
The south bank of this stream — ^the Shira-kawa, or '* White 
River'" — is a precipice three hundred feet in height, above 
which thick forests clothe the mountains to their summits* 
In every mile at least a do2;en streams danced down the slopes, 
adding to the humming of the waters that filled the air, and 
beautiful cascades sprang from the beetling cliffs on the 



278 IN LOTUS-LAND 

opposite bank to fall in clouds of rainbowed mist into the 
rocky gorge* 

The inn at Toshita is an unpretentious place^ close by the 
river^ and one goes to sleep lulled by the music of its waters* 

We were up early the next morning to have a bathe in the 
public hot-springs where we found a number of villagers 
already tubbing* Much curiosity was evinced as I entered the 
plunge^ which is common to both sexes^ and many obser- 
vations were made on my personal appearance — especially 
by the ladies* My smattering of the language enabled me to 
gather that these comments chiefly concerned the colour of 
my skin^ and with satisfaction I noted that they took a not 
unfavourable tone* 

At eight we started on foot for the ten-mile walk to Aso's 
crater, with several coolies to carry my apparatus and luggage, 
for we intended to traverse the mountain and continue the 
journey across the island of Kyushiu to Beppu, on the 
Bungo Channel* 

It was a glorious day, but fearfully hot* At the village of 
Tochinoki there are many baths, fed by hot-springs, where 
rounded youth and shrunken age of both sexes bathe together* 
Two years later, when I again visited this place in March, I 
saw wrinkled old fellows, whose skin was like a withered apple, 
lying sound asleep in the water, with their heads resting on 
the steps, and with flat stones placed on their bellies to keep 
their bodies submerged* They spend the entire winter in the 
warm water thus, seldom, if ever, donning their clothes* The 
water is said to be very efiicacious for rheumatism, but it seems 
to have evil properties as well as virtue, for several of the 
bathers were piebald with pink and yellow patches* 

Passing through the village we came to an open rolling 
moor, and the great volcano loomed straight ahead of us* I 
wish those who believe Japan to be "'a land of birds without 
song,"" as one writer has so falsely described it, could see this 
moor in early spring-time* When I crossed it again on my 
subsequent visit in March the very skies seemed to ring with 
celestial music, and the air trembled with the melody of a 



THE GREAT VOLCANOES 279 

myriad unseen larks singing at the gates of heaven* I have 
never heard anything to compare with this birdland concert, 
in the British Isles or any other land* Every few seconds a 
tiny speck would appear far up in the blue, and the sweet 
piping notes and trills of one little voice of the chorus grew 
clearer and clearer as the tiny owner fluttered down, down, 
down — ^at times hovering almost still in the air — till the singer 
was lost to view in the grass* But still the little throat pulsed 
and throbbed out the lay of love, as the happy little creature 
wooed its mate upon the nest* Only in the mating season 
are larks inspired to pour forth such rapturous melody as this* 

That day in March was one never to be forgotten* A 
perfect spring morning in the hills! The very air seemed to 
be charged with the romance and mystery of Old Japan, and 
pulsated with the trilling and warbling of a thousand larks* 

But in August it was a different story* The heat was 
getting terrific as we went along at a good gait over the soft, 
springy turf, with the serrated edge of the great ash-hills, which 
encircle the inner crater, far above us and beckoning us on* 
This moor is inside, and now forms the floor of, the ancient 
crater; and the mountains all round us marked the lip of 
the original outer rim, which is fourteen miles from brim 
to brim* 

The geysers of Yu-no-tani now appeared ahead, sending 
great billows of snowy steam high into the heavens — ^making 
a beautiful contrast to the azure of the sky, the yellow of the 
sunburnt grass, and the deep green of the forests which sur- 
round the springs* At a distance of two miles we could hear 
the geysers hissing, but as we drew nearer the sound grew 
rapidly louder, and changed from hissing to rumbling, and 
then to a deep booming that made the ear-drums tingle* 
Finally it grew into a deafening roar that shook the earth, as 
we stood beside great fissures from which steam shrieked at 
terrific pressure* There is power enough going to waste there 
to run all the factories in Osaka, if it could be harnessed* From 
the force with which the steam was emitted it seemed as though 
the rocks must momentarily be rent asunder, which is probably 



28o IN LOTUS-LAND 

what would happen were it not that these vents are the earth's 
safety-valves* 

Miles of black ash-hills^ which reflected the 90°-in-the- 
shade heat into our faces with scorching power^ now had to 
be traversed, and our clothing was soon as wringing wet as 
though we had been in a river* We should certainly have 
welcomed a dip in one at that stage of the journey* We passed 
many farms and rice-fields, for the ground is very rich, and 
wherever there is water abundant crops are grown* It is said 
there are over twenty thousand people living in the villages 
within the original outer crater walls* 

When we reached the summit of the ash-hills which form 
the second lip, we rested and restored our wasted tissues with 
lunch, whilst enjoying the grand spectacle of the crater, only 
three miles away, pouring volumes of smoke and steam into 
the cloudless skies* Fortified by food and rest, we soon dis- 
posed of the remaining distance, passed the temples at the 
foot of the cone, and were plodding up to the crater's brink* 
It behoved us to be very careful how we stepped, for the ash 
deposited is of so soluble a nature that the recent storm had 
turned it into slippery mud, and we had more than one fall 
and long slide in the slime before reaching the brink* The 
crater lip is very dangerous as the bank dips towards the edge 
in places, and a fall might precipitate one into the abyss* The 
walls are not coloured like those of lava mountains, but are 
black precipices of accumulated ashes, with only occasional 
streaks of volcanic rock* Occasionally the clouds of vapour 
which floated up from the great pit parted, and we could see 
the crater bottom, with its thousand cracks and fissures, from 
which the steam hissed and roared — 2l most fascinating and 
magnificent spectacle* Once the wind veered for a few moments 
and we were quickly enveloped in the steam, which sent us 
running, sliding, and tumbling to get away from the suffocating 
fumes that gripped us in the throat and set up paroxysms of 
coughing; yet I saw butterflies flying across the abyss and 
emerging from the noxious vapours unharmed* 

There were two separate craters active within the confines 



THE GREAT VOLCANOES 281 

of the walls^ and two inactive cones^ but the aspect of the 
crater changes every time the volcano has a fresh outburst* 
The highest point of Aso-san is Taka-dake^ or ''Falcon's 
Peak/' 5630 feet above the sea* There are several others 
nearly as high^ and from the north side they give a magnifi- 
cently broken appearance to the mountain^ which is quite 
unsuspected from the west* From the town of Boju the five 
serrated peaks of Aso-san^ with the snowy steam-clouds rising 
heavenwards behind them^ make no little pretence to grandeur* 

We stayed on the mountain till long after the setting sun 
had turned the clouds of steam to fiery flames; then^ as the 
moon rose over the jagged peaks^ and shone with weird beauty 
through the ghostly vapours, we started on the journey down 
to Miyaji* 

Every hour of the rest of the trip across Kyushiu was full 
of interest* The town of Takeda is most picturesquely situated 
in a hollow, surrounded by high hills which are pierced by 
over forty tunnels to render the town accessible* Only by 
passing through several in succession can the town be entered* 
There are pretty waterfalls near here, flowing over the tops 
of closely-packed, upright basaltic columns, and the scenery 
all round the little town is singularly beautiful* 

But Beppu and Kanawa, at the end of the journey, were 
the most interesting places of all* They are situated on the 
shore of the Bungo Channel, the south-west entrance to 
the Inland Sea* 

The whole of this neighbourhood is so volcanic that hot- 
springs abound almost everywhere* Beppu town is filled with 
public bath-houses; every private house has its hot-spring, 
and the sea-shore is bubbling with almost boiling water* 
The beach was swarming with men, women, and children 
who scooped out hollows in the sand, and lying down in them 
covered themselves so that only their heads could be seen* 
Thus they parboil themselves for hours, and even sleep there* 
I joined the crowd and tried this method, but found that the 
water which percolated into the hole I dug was so hot that 
I could not stand in it — much less lie down* 



282 IN LOTUS-LAND 

At Kanawa^ a village a few miles away^ the crust of the 
earth is so impregnated with volcanic heat that almost any- 
where steam can be tapped by punching a hole in the ground 
with a crow-bar» Almost every house has a row of holes 
outside which are used for cooking purposes* These have to 
be plugged up^ when not in use^ to keep the sulphurous steam 
from entering the buildings and asphyxiating the inmates* 

The most extraordinary baths in all Japan are to be seen 
here* After soaking in the public plunge^ the people crowd — 
a do^en or so at a time — into caves in which the heat is terrific* 
In half-an-hour they creep out^ covered with mud which has 
fallen from the roof^ and stand under jets of almost ice-cold 
water which come from other subterranean sources* This 
natural Turkish bath is said to be very efficacious for the 
cure of rheumatism* 

There are many other baths at Kanawa^ some of them 
arranged as long troughs about fifteen inches deep and wide 
enough for a bather to lie in at full length* In these the 
bathers recline side by side* There is one trough for men 
and another for women^ but it is quite common to see old 
and young of both sexes soaking alongside each other and 
chatting sociably together* 

There are less pleasant places at Kanawa also — one of 
them a sputtering^ boiling bog of dark-green^ sulphurous 
slime^ and another of brilliant green^ boiling sulphur-water 
— ^which I was told were favourite resorts of suicides* As I 
ga2;ed into these awful sloughs I thought that the terrors of 
life must indeed be greater than fear of death to impel that 
last despairing plunge* 

One gloomy afternoon in October, my friend Dennis 
Hurley and I left for Karui2;awa, which is about six 
hours' journey by rail from Tokyo, to visit the volcano 
Asama-yama* 

Asama is 8280 feet high, but as the village of Karui2^wa, 
the starting-point for the ascent, is 3279 feet above sea-level, 
it leaves only some 5000 feet to be climbed after leaving the 
train; and after all it is a climb only in name, for this volcano 




CopyrishtH. CrJVhiteCo. 



A PUBLIC BATH AT KANAWA 



THE GREAT VOLCANOES 283 

has spread itself in such a manner that it is merely a walk of 
several hours up a steady incline to the top* 

The railway from Tokyo follows the Nakasendo — the old 
mountain highway of Japan^ which in feudal days connected 
the capital of the Mikado at Kyoto with the Shogun^s capital 
at Yedo — but there is no scenery of any remarkable interest 
until the town of Myogi is reached. At this point the line 
enters a mountain region of truly mystifying beauty* For 
several miles the famous Myogi-san on the left is a marvellous 
conglomeration of beetling crags^ towering Gothic peaks and 
cliffs which lean far out from the vertical^ seeming to menace 
everything below them with immediately impending des- 
truction* The whole mountain was clothed in a glorious 
autumn garb of every shade of red and orange^ blended with 
brown and green; and spiky pine-trees pertinaciously clung 
to the most impossible of its precipices^ or bristled against the 
sky on the uttermost and most inaccessible of its pinnacles* 

From Yokugawa onwards^ the steep gradient — one in 
fifteen — ^renders traction by an ordinary locomotive impossible^ 
so a steel rack is placed between the rails^ into which cog- 
wheels in the bed of the engine engage* This is the Abt system, 
similar to that used on the Gornergrat and others of the 
mountain railways of Switzerland* 

There are twenty-six tunnels in the next three miles, and 
sometimes only a few score feet separate one tunnel from the 
next* As we passed these openings, we caught fleeting glimpses 
of scenery, exquisitely beautiful, with burning autumn tints 
climbing high up the distorted shapes of the grim volcanic 
rocks; and, as the sunlight waned, the jagged pinnacles and 
spires stood out in uncanny silhouettes against a lurid sky* 

We saw Asama, the object of our visit, for a few brief 
moments from the train, a faint smoke issuing from the 
summit; but night had fallen ere we reached our destination, 
cold and hungry, and, though the outline of the mountain 
could be seen in the darkened sky, we were too intent on 
finding a warm room, a good meal, and a hot bath, to feel 
much interest in it that night* 



284 IN LOTUS-LAND 

There were no rikishas at the station^ and when we had 
tramped the mile to the inn we found the place shut up and 
apparently deserted^ for there are few visitors at that time of 
the year* Only after repeated efforts could we succeed in 
making ourselves heard^ but when at length the door^ with a 
great clatter^ was unbarred^ we were welcomed with customary 
courtesy and a chorus of greetings from the host and two 
little smiling maids* They had hastily bundled out of the beds 
to which they had retired for warmth^ and^ with much bowings 
apologised for keeping us waiting outside on such a frigid night* 

The warmth of the welcome^ whilst cheering to the spirit^ 
did not^ however, raise the temperature of the hotel; and we 
went shivering to our rooms, with maledictions on ourselves 
and on each other for having been so foolish as to disregard 
the advice we had been given in Tokyo — to telegraph ahead 
that we were coming* But braziers were quickly filled with 
glowing charcoal; hot tea was brought; warm baths were 
prepared; and as the mercury in the thermometer on the wall 
went up, so did our spirits, until at length, after a boiling hot 
tub, we sat down to a hastily prepared but excellent meal, 
fully resuscitated from our six hours' incarceration and fast 
in that chilly train* 

There is nothing of any particular interest about Karui- 
zawa itself, though the high location and cool air make it a 
favourite resort for residents of Tokyo during the hot summer 
months* It was the mountain, however, that we had come to 
see, and at this season of the year we were willing enough to 
give all the cool airs the place could boast for a few hours of 
grateful sunshine* And fortune was more than kind, for the 
morning after our arrival was clear and still — a lovely October 
day* Nothing could be wished for more, so at 7 a*m* we started 
out with a guide, and three coolies to carry our lunch and 
my heavy photographic apparatus and plates, which weighed 
about eighty pounds* 

There had been a keen frost overnight, and in the crisp air 
the volcano stood out sharp in every detail, with a faint white 
vapour issuing from its rounded top* Scarcely had we started 



THE GREAT VOLCANOES 285 

when one of the coolies shouted, and pointed to the mountain* 
On looking in that direction we saw a wonderful sight. A 
great ball of steam shot upwards from the crater and floated 
like a monster balloon up to the sky* This was immediately 
followed by clouds of dense, black fumes, mingled with great 
billows of vapour, which belched forth in bellying convolutions, 
and piled upon each other, higher and higher, until a pillar 
of smoke, ten thousand feet or more in height, floated over 
the mountain. A high air current then caught the top and 
flattened it out and tilted it, and finally the whole column 
drifted off lazily southwards staining the skies as grey as though 
a heavy rainstorm were passing. I have never seen a grander 
sight than that cyclopean pillar of writhing smoke and vapour 
pouring up into the vault of heaven on that sunny October 
morning. 

We had not bargained for such marvellously good luck as 
this. To have a faultless day, and to find that the volcano was 
in an unusually fierce state of activity, was fortunate indeed, 
and well calculated to cheer the soul of any one bent on securing 
photographic results. Our host of the hotel came running 
after us, warning us to be very careful how we ascended the 
mountain, and exhorting us not to venture near the crater 
unless smoke was issuing freely. Reasons for this sage advice 
I will give later. We had, however, made up our minds to see 
the crater, and intended to look into it that day, be the risks 
what they might. 

Leaving Karui^awa behind us, and passing through the 
quaint straggling village of Kotsukake — the cottage roofs of 
which were covered with stones to weight them down in the 
strong winds which prevail here — the road led past rice-fields 
and sparkling streams with quaint water-wheeled mills; 
thence on to a beautifully-wooded, sloping moor, which soon 
changed to rolling hills of volcanic ash and scoriae, overgrown 
with grotesque pines. 

The hillsides were golden in the sun, and the silver-tipped 
kaia-grass, which flecked the gold, made a foreground of 
feathery beauty for every view. The frost had covered the 



286 IN LOTUS-LAND 

trees and kaia with crystals^ which scintillated like gems in 
the sunlight^ and as we rapidly covered mile after mile through 
the lovely woodland^ and ascended gradually higher and 
higher^ the simple beauties of this undulating country seemed 
as charming as more showy landscapes^ the praises of which 
have been sung by every writer on Japan* 

The great mountain mass lay straight ahead^ but since the 
explosion at 7 a^m* scarcely a trace of vapour had issued from 
the crater* At 10 a*m* we passed round the side of Ko-Asama^ 
or '*Baby Asama'^ — ^ small extinct volcano which lies at the 
base of its larger namesake — whose slopes were crimson 
with autumn tints* Shortly afterwards we reached the place 
where those who come on horseback must leave their steeds 
behind and proceed the rest of the way on foot^ for^ like most 
volcanoes in Japan^ Asama-yama is sacred^ and above this 
spot no horse may tread* From here to the summit it is simply 
a matter of walking over a bed of cinders and pumice^ which 
gets steeper and looser as one nears the top* Ash is frequently 
ejected from the crater^ and most of it falls on the upper part 
of the mountain^ the accumulation of centuries accounting 
for the smooth^ round appearance which the volcano presents 
when viewed from a distance* 

The lower slopes are overgrown with a tangle of vines 
bearing small seedless grapes^ from which the natives make 
a kind of jam* At 11*20 a*m*^ as we were toiling up this incline^ 
another explosion occurred^ and again vast clouds of smoke 
and steam belched out from the crater and rose thousands of 
feet into the air* A muffled roar, however, was the only sound 
which reached us at this distance* A gentle breeze had by this 
time sprung up, causing the smoke to drift off rapidly east- 
wards, and as it floated overhead a shower of ash fell around us* 
We relieved our coolies of the contents of the lunch basket 
shortly after this, for the guide told us that the mountain was 
extremely dangerous when in such a mood, and ejected 
showers of stones with each explosion; it would therefore 
be unwise to tarry long enough at the summit to lunch there 
as we had proposed* 




Copyright Underwood &• Underivood. 



AT THE crater's BRINK 



THE GREAT VOLCANOES 287 

At I PM. we reached the top of the great ridge of the outer 
cone* The ground hereabouts was exceedingly soft from the 
quantity of fine ash that is intermittently deposited* It was 
studded with innumerable stones^ some of which bore silent 
testimony to the soundness of the guide's warnings for they 
were quite warm^ showing that they had been ejected in the 
recent explosion* There was a slight depression beyond this, 
and then another slope, which is the inner cone* The roar of 
the great cauldron could be heard as we arrived at this spot, 
but when we reached the summit a few minutes later, 
and stood on the crater's brink, a marvellous spectacle lay 
before us* 

We saw an immense pit, six hundred feet or more across, 
and almost perfectly round, with perpendicular walls five 
hundred feet or so in height* These walls were burnt and 
scorched and stained with fire to every colour of the spectrum; 
and from a myriad cracks and crannies sulphurous jets of 
steam hissed out, each contributing to the filmy vapours 
that rose from the abyss* Through the thin steam the entire 
crater floor was visible* It was a huge solfatara, with numerous 
holes from which molten matter was spurting, and red-hot 
lava pools which now and then were licked by little tongues 
of flame* 

The noise of the place was truly infernal* There is no 
other sound that can be likened to the sputtering, hnzzing 
roar of a volcano* It is fearful to listen to — this vibrating, 
throbbing, pulsating boom of fiercely boiling lava* The crater 
seemed to be fermenting with suppressed rage; and one half 
expected that any moment it would burst open and loose the 
furies it could scarce restrain* 

The whole summit of the volcano was covered with stones, 
some of which must have weighed a ton or more* Many of 
them had obviously been ejected quite recently, for the marks 
they had made in the soft ash were fresh, and some of the 
larger ones were still hot, having obviously been thrown out 
from the crater in the explosion that occurred during our 
ascent* The fresh ash, which falls after each such outburst. 



288 IN LOTUS-LAND 

speedily covers the stones^ so that it is easy to see which have 
been expelled most recently* Our coolies emphatically drew 
our attention to the freshly-fallen ones^ intimating that it 
would be exceedingly hazardous to tarry at the summit very 
long* But the intense interest of the place^ and the wonderful 
views to be had from the lofty vantage-pointy made us dis- 
regard their warnings; there was so much to marvel at^ and 
all around us a glorious panorama of mountain scenery* 

Eastwards^ rugged mountains rose tier beyond tier^ ending 
with the craggy peaks of Myogi-san^ and farther north the 
Nikko range* Northwards^ were the Kotsuke range^ the 
mountainous district of Kusatsu^ and Shirane-san; whilst 
in the west that forbidding conglomeration of great barren 
peaks^ which the Rev* W* Weston has named ** the Japanese 
Alps/^ was a dream of light and shadow in the afternoon sun* 
Southward^ there rose the great Koshu barrier^ above which^ 
and far beyond it^ the lovely snow-clad cone of Fuji towered 
high^ and surpassed in the beauty of almost faultless sym- 
metry every peak within the range of vision* 

Whilst absorbed in the contemplation of these beautiful 
surroundings^ and the wondrous red and purple colouring of 
an ancient broken crater on the mountain's western side^ the 
time sped swiftly on^ and it was not until three o'clock that 
we prepared to leave* 

Our coolies went on ahead^ but Hurley and I stopped a 
few moments for a last look at the crater^ which we were 
reluctant to leave* As we stood on the brinks gazing into 
the abyss^ there was a crash like a thunder-clap^ and the 
bed of the crater parted asunder and burst upwards, throwing 
thousands of tons of rock against the walls* Masses of rock 
were hurled against the cliffs and shivered to fragments with 
reports like exploding shells, and showers of stones, whistling 
past us, shot many hundreds of feet into the air* 

I thought my last moment had surely come, for it seemed 
we must inevitably be struck by the falling stones* My first 
impulse was to seek safety in flight; but after running a few 
paces it occurred to me that the stones were just as likely to 



THE GREAT VOLCANOES 289 

hit me running as standing stilL Hurley^ who had also started 
to run^ stopped too^ and we both waited for our fate* Just 
then the smoke^ which rose from the crater immediately after 
the explosion^ swept in a great cloud above us^ so that we could 
not see the flying stones^ or form any idea where they were 
likely to falL I shall not soon forget those moments^ as we 
gazed upwards^ with arms involuntarily held tightly over our 
heads for protection^ waiting for the descending missiles to 
drop out of the smoke-cloud and annihilate us* 

And then the stones came clattering down — sticking^ with 
sharp thuds^ deep into the ash* It was fortunate for us that a 
mere sprinkling fell in our vicinity^ in comparison with the 
hail of rock fragments that dropped not a hundred yards away* 

No sooner^ however^ were we safely delivered from Scylla 
than the perils of Charybdis were upon us* The smoke that 
was belching from the crater^s mouth now enveloped us^ and 
in a moment we were choking with the sulphurous fumes* 
It was impossible to breathe^ as^^ with hands tightly pressed 
over our mouths and nostrils, we blindly ran through the smoke 
for air* Fortune again was with us* In less than twenty paces 
we emerged suddenly from the asphyxiating smoke into 
brilliant sunlight, gasping and filling our lungs to their fullest 
extent with great draughts of sweet pure air* It was a happy 
thing for us that the strong breeze which was now blowing 
was coming from the south; thus, the smoke was blown 
from where we stood across the crater* Had it been blowing 
from the north we should have been unable to escape from 
the suffocating fumes* 

Great black whorls of smoke belched from the crater, 
being emitted with such force and volume that they were 
pushed far back into the teeth of the wind; and several times 
we had to retreat quickly as they bellied out toward us* They 
rose to the heavens in writhing convolutions, and from the 
centre of the mass billows of snow-white steam puffed out, 
and bulged beyond the smoke* And as white and black rose 
higher and higher in turn, they mingled with each other, and 
soared up to the skies in a gradually diffusing pillar of grey. 



290 IN LOTUS-LAND 

which was tilted northwards by the wind and borne off rapidly 
into the clouds above* 

Here was a wonderful chance to secure a unique photo- 
graphy but on looking round for the coolies, I saw them madly 
rushing down the mountain-side with my cameras as fast as 
legs could carry them* Realising that if I did not stop them I 
should miss the chance of a lifetime to get a picture at the lip 
of a volcano in a state of violent activity, I ran after them, 
calling to them to stop* The guide shouted back that we should 
all be killed if we did, and they continued their rush down the 
mountain-side faster than ever* They raced over the smooth 
ash and leapt over stones like deer, regardless of the damage 
such a pace might do to my apparatus, which was packed to 
suit a more sober gait* Failing to check them with my shouts, 
I ran after them, and, being unencumbered, soon overhauled 
the man with my hand-camera* Quickly unlashing the camera 
from his pack, I returned with another and older coolie — 
who had stopped at my bidding — to the crater^s lip, and 
there hastily I took some snapshots, and then rewarded the 
old fellow with a substantial gratuity, much to his satisfaction* 

For the remainder of that day the volcano relapsed into a 
state of steady activity — thick, black smoke pouring from the 
crater* This was the condition for which our host at the hotel 
had told us to wait before making the ascent, as when smoke 
issues freely it denotes that the vent is clear, and that the 
crater may be approached with safety* 

The last really great eruption of Asama occurred in 1783, 
when a stream of lava poured from the crater down the north- 
eastern side of the mountain, and for several miles into the 
valley below, overwhelming everything in its path* 

The lava-flow spread ruin far and wide through a forest 
of pine and maple trees that stood in its path* As one emerges 
from the shade of this fair woodland, the barren waste of 
distorted shapes into which the molten rock solidified bears 
awe-inspiring evidence of the devastating forces pent up 
inside the earth* 




THE GIRL AND THE LANTERN 



CHAPTER XX 

THE INLAND SEA AND MIYAJIMA 

Miyajima! Even the very name is soft and pleasant to the 
ear^ as is befitting for a queen's; and Miyajima is easily queen 
of all the lovely isles which grace that fairest stretch of water 
in the world — the Inland Sea* 

I have passed through the Inland Sea by mail steamer half 
a do2;en times or more^ and have visited every point of interest 
on the Sanyo railway^ which skirts its western shores; but 
the most memorable trip of all was two weeks which I spent 
exploring those beautiful land-locked waters in detail by 
native coasting vessels and sailing sampans* From a mail 
steamer one can get only broad effects* Space will not permit 
herein of a full account of all that I saw^ so I will confine 
myself to a visits by way of coasting steamers^ to the lovely 
island of Miyajima* 

It was from the prettily-situated port of Kobe — ^which 
lies at the foot of the Settsu mountains^ by the waters of Iznmi 
Bay — ^that once I embarked on a tiny Japanese steamer for 
a visit to the far-famed island* 

At ten o'clock one summer night we weighed anchor^ and 
soon entered the Akashi Strait^ the principal eastern entrance 
to the famous landlocked waters* The moon was shedding 
a soft romantic radiance over the motionless sea^ and as the 
little vessel's bow parted a way through the glassy mirror it 
caused tiny jets of spray to fly upwards and fall back with a 
hiss on either side* As we glided along past the island of 
Awaji — ^which was the very beginning of Japan^ the home of 
the Creator Izanagi and the Creatress kanami^ where they 
wedded and gave birth to all the other islands of the Japanese 

u 391 



292 IN LOTUS-LAND 

Archipelago — ^we found ourselves in the midst of a fleet of 
junks^ busily engaged in fishing by the light of the moon* 

Like phantom ships upon a phantom ocean^ they lay in 
the moonbeams with idle sails that vainly tried to catch a 
breath of wind — ^reminding me vividly of that never-to-be- 
forgotten hour when first I saw Japan* 

All next day we were passing through narrow channels, 
where the tide ran swift and strong, or over sheets of open 
water which seemed like inland lakes* Junks and fishing boats 
were sailing everywhere, and the scenery was weirdly beautiful* 
Grotesque islands of every conceivable si^e and curious shape 
— ^all carved and crannied and pock-marked by the erosion 
of the swift currents, and studded with fantastic pine-trees 
leaning over the water, as often as not at angles far below the 
horizontal — ^were bestrewn all over the surface of the sea; 
and our course was altered almost every minute to navigate 
the tortuous winding channels* 

The engine-room telegraph was almost constantly ringing* 
One moment the helm would be '*hard-a-port,^' the next it 
was **hard-a-starboard,*' as the tide came swirling round the 
rocks, and the steamer heeled from side to side as the currents 
caught us on either bow* Now and again it seemed almost 
impossible that we could stem the flood* At one place the little 
vessel rushed headlong to destruction as she bore straight 
for the cliffs hemming us in on every side* But at the very 
moment when it seemed her doom was sealed, the precipice 
parted asunder and an opening appeared* Quickly, and timed 
to the fraction of a second, went the word of command* Hard 
over went the helm, and the staunch, handy little craft, heeling 
over and nearly standing on her beam ends, strained every bolt 
and plate as she turned her head to answer, and then swept 
with a rush through a narrow channel, where the tide was 
racing like a mill-stream* 

We made brief stoppages at many small towns and villages, 
the most picturesque of which was Onomichi — a pretty little 
port with plenty of bustling activity about its streets and quays* 
There is a large island called Mukojima in front of it^ from 



THE INLAND SEA AND MIYAJIMA 293 

which it is separated by a long and narrow straits This channel 
is always haunted by a fleet of old-time junks, though the 
ancient native rig is rapidly disappearing from Japanese waters 
in favour of brigs and schooners, which can sail a good deal 
closer to the wind. 

At high-tide the activity of Onomichi's water-front is 
strenuous; and when the tide is low, long stretches of sand 
lie bare, and hundreds of women and children dig for shell-fish* 
Near the town large areas of land are used for growing reeds 
for matting, and salt marshes line the shore for miles* The 
method of extracting the salt is very simple* The water, 
which percolates through sand-beds into pits, is evaporated 
in the sun until it becomes concentrated brine; this is then 
evaporated again by boiling in iron pans until only the salt, 
encrusted on the pans, remains* 

A fine old bell at Senkdji monastery, high up in the hills 
above the town, sent deep sweet notes trembling to the bree2;es; 
and out in the strait the white-winged junks skimmed con- 
tinually over its shallow, emerald waters* Fishermen sailed 
away to the west as the sun went down, to return with their 
spoils at break of day; the laughter of rollicking children 
mingled with the murmur of the rippling waves that lapped 
the shore; and everything on land and sea seemed to breathe 
of peace, as our steamer anchored for the night* 

The next day, on another steamer, we had further tussles 
with the tide and currents, and though the little vessel fought 
them bravely she was baffled more than once* At one place a 
great swirling whirlpool yawned before us — fully ten feet or 
more in depth — seeming like the gaping mouth of some great 
sea-monster seeking whom it might devour* But the little 
craft only laughed at it, and swept across its vortex, dispersing 
it for a moment as she passed* 

Then she throbbed easily along until she came to the 
Ondo channel* But here she could not breast the flood which 
boiled through the narrow passage* She could not keep her 
head to the current; and the moment she wavered it caught 
her side and swept her, heeling over twenty degrees, back into 



294 IN LOTUS-LAND 

the open reach again* It was an exciting struggle, for though 
the captain kept her stubbornly to the task and tried three 
times, he had finally to abandon the effort, and wait for slacker 
water* Half an hour later, when the tide was running slower, 
he tried again, and the little vessel fought her way foot by foot 
up the channel, in the middle of which there was a rock on 
which a great stone lantern stood* There were villages within 
biscuit-throw of us on either side — so near that we could 
look into the windows of the houses, whose busy occupants 
scarcely turned aside from their occupation to so much as 
glance at the struggling steamer, so accustomed were they to 
such sights* On another occasion when I passed through 
this channel, the tide was running just as strongly in the 
contrary direction, and a similar conflict had again to be waged 
against the current* 

Then we turned and twisted about for hours through 
landlocked channels and lakes, amidst seascapes of bewitching 
beauty* Island after island bobbed up out of the sea — some 
no larger than the steamer, mere pinnacles of granite, but 
seldom without a few whimsical pines sticking to some crevice 
into which they had forced their starving roots* Others were 
lovely symphonies of colour — great pyramids of green, rising 
a thousand feet or more above the villages on their shores — 
and terraced with rice and barley patches to their utmost 
heights; not an inch of earth was wasted* Every tiny village 
and hamlet had its temple, sometimes by the shore, sometimes 
perched upon a knoll; but more often than not it peeped 
from some clump of pines, far up the mountain-side, where 
the patron deity might feast his eyes for ever on some 
glorious view* 

As we sped along through all this wonderland, the scenes 
in the depths below were beautiful as the views above* The 
sunlight pierced far down into the crystal waters, and by 
leaning over the bow, where the surface was undisturbed by 
the vessel's progress, I could see lovely gardens on the bed 
of the sea* 

We were floating over the silent realm of the Nereides, 







' in?' . r' -' ( 1,11 , 



^^^' .| '; ' * in 



THE INLAND SEA AND MIYAJIMA 295 

and could see the beauties of their home as a soaring bird 
looks down upon the earth* 

Sometimes there was nothing but the blue of infinite depth 
below us; then some submarine peak would stretch upwards^ 
almost to the surface^ with great forests of sea-plants on its 
top^ which waved their foliage to us as we passed* 

When Aphrodite herself was born and sprang like a lily 
from a bubble'^on the sea^ that lily could have floated upwards 
from no fairer^spot than this; and as I ga2;ed into the depths^ 
with the spell of their magic upon me^ I half expected to see 
some lovely sea-nymph beckon me with her hand; but instead 
the sea-trees only waved their branches* There were shoals 
of fish among the greenery^ and in one of the open reaches 
we ran into a school of dolphins* Scores of the playful ceta- 
ceans swam close alongside of us^ easily keeping pace with 
the steamer with scarcely any perceptible movement of their 
bodies* They seemed to take keen delight in swimming an 
inch or two ahead of us^ and in leaping out of the water across 
the vesseFs prow* 

Then the sea began to swarm with jelly-fish* We found 
them massed in such prodigious numbers as actually to impede 
our speed* For a mile or more there must have been billions 
of them^ for scarcely any water could be seen for the multitude 
of the creatures* We were literally steaming through a monster 
jelly* The Japanese call them kurage^ which means ''sea 
moon*'^ This name is wonderfully appropriate — as indeed 
most Japanese names are — ^for a single kurage in the deep blue 
water resembles exactly the full moon in the sky* 

Then we came to Kure^ the greatest of all the naval har- 
bours — ^the Portsmouth of Japan* It is said that the hills 
hereabouts are lined with impregnable forts^ but though I 
have passed them many times^ and scrutinised their sides 
closely with my glass^ I have never seen any evidence of a 
fortification* They exists however^ but are so well and skilfully 
masked as to be invisible from the water* 

The harbour was filled with battleships^ cruisers^ and 
torpedo craft; and at Ujina^ a few miles further^ fourteen 



296 IN LOTUS-LAND 

transports lay at anchor^ and the whole place was busy as 
a bee-hive* 

After an hour's stay we left Ujina^ with its feverish activity^ 
and^ turning a rocky promontory^ beheld Miyajima in all its 
loveliness ahead* It was now evenings and a faint mist rising 
from the sea was gradually enveloping the sacred island with 
a veil^ as though its guardian deities — the Sea-king's daughters 
— ^were jealous of their trust, and sought to hide its beauty with 
a garment* It was a thin, diaphanous robe, however, and 
served merely to add the witchery of enchantment to the 
charms it could only half conceal* 

Now if Miyajima had been in the -^gean Sea the Greeks 
of old would have called it Delos, and they would have invested 
it with legend* They would have said that persecuted Latona, 
condemned by the jealous hatred of Juno to banishment from 
Olympus, and evermore to rove about the earth, arrived at 
length on the seashore, and there entreated Neptune to pity 
her distress* And Neptune would have heard her prayer, and 
sent a dolphin to bear her to a wondrous floating island which 
he had raised especially for her from the loveliest depths of 
his domain* Then when the isle had floated to a certain spot 
— ^where the waters were crystal clear, the breezes soft and 
balmy, and the air all sweet and scented — he would have 
anchored it fast; and there Latona would have lived happily 
for ever with Jupiter, her lover* 

All this and more the Greeks did say about their legendary 
isle; but even Delos could not have been more beautiful 
than Miyajima* 

As we approached the matchless isle that summer evening, 
it seemed too lovely to be real* It was like a dream — a vision 
of some spectral land which, even as we watched, was slowly 
melting away into the vapours of the shadowy seas of fable* 

But the Queen of the Inland Sea had only thought to 
tantalise by shrinking thus from view, for as we drew nearer 
to its shores a sudden change of whim caused it to abandon 
provocation, and to cast off all conceits and modesty and show 
its beauty unafraid* We glided out of the filmy enshrouding 



THE INLAND SEA AND MIYAJIMA 297 

mists which lay about the surface of the sea, and fair Delos 
of tradition became fairer Miyajima of fact* 

Its forest-clad peaks and spires were outlined high against 
the twilight sky, and the sweet scent of its pine-trees was 
heavy on the air. We steamed along, close under the precipices 
which overhung the water, and, as the whistle blew to signal 
our arrival, the blast smote the rocks like a blow, and then 
went leaping from ledge to ledge up the mountain-side, setting 
all the forest ringing, and awaking a thousand echoes in its trail. 

Then many lights came into view, and we drew alongside 
a little stone pier; but by the time I had engaged a coolie, 
and had my luggage loaded on a barrow, half an hour had 
gone, and we started off through the village to the Haku-un-d5 
Hotel in the dark. I could see but dimly, therefore, all the 
beauty we were passing, for the moon had not yet risen above 
the island^s crest. But I could discern old temple buildings 
looming out of the shadows, and the beach was all dancing 
with ghostly fire as the ripples broke into attenuated gleams 
of phosphorescence on the strand. And there were long rows 
of ishi-doro silhouetted against the water; and by the light of 
the coolie^s lantern I could see deer, frightened by its glare, 
skip nimbly out of our way. Then there were fragrant pine- 
groves, with turf as soft as velvet; and at last a light appeared 
in the heart of the pines, and then a house, and as we drew up 
to it there was a chorus of ^* Irasshai, Irasshai!'^ (** Welcome, 
Welcome!''), from the host and little neisans, who had gathered 
round the door as soon as they heard the coolie's shout. 

Greetings over, I was immediately taken in charge by one 
of the little maids, who, by the light of a paper lantern, led me 
over the springy turf, and under the pine-trees, and across a 
rustic bridge spanning a murmuring stream, till we arrived at 
a neat little wood-and-paper summer-house of two rooms — 
all by itself. This, she intimated, was to be my domicile; and 
then, after lighting a lamp for me, she pattered off to bring 
some tea and cakes. After I had sipped a cup or two she led 
me to the bath, and when I emerged therefrom, half an hour 
later, she was waiting to conduct me back to my tiny villa 



298 IN LOTUS-LAND 

once more* Then she pattered off to bring my dinner — ^which 
was^ of course^ served on the floor — ^and she knelt opposite 
to me and chatted with me in soft accents in her native tongue 
whilst I was having it^ asking me many questions about where 
I had been and what I had seen* 

After dinner she slid open the end of the wall and brought 
out bedding — ^futons^ and even sheets^ a rarity in Japanese 
inns — and made my bed up on the floor* Then she dived into 
the wall again and unearthed a huge green mosquito-net^ 
which she hoisted by means of rings at each corner of the 
room^ completely filling it* After that she lit an andon (night- 
lamp) for me^ and^ kneeling on the floor^ and bowing her 
glossy head to the mat^ sweetly wished me '*0 yasumi nasai'^ 
('* Honourably deign to sleep '')> and then ran off to do a lot 
more work before having her own bath and going to bed 
herself* It was nearly midnight before I knew^ by the shouts 
of laughter coming from the direction of the bathroom^ that 
she and the rest of the hotel staff were having their evening 
tub before retiring to their futons* 

I slept that night to the murmur of running water and the 
chirping of a myriad crickets in the surrounding woods* 

The next morning I was up betimes^ before fair Miyajima 
had shaken off her night kimono of mist* Long shafts of golden 
sunlight were struggling with the haze amidst the scented 
pines^ and deer were browsing on the sweet velvety turf in 
front of the hotel* The sea was burnished gold^ and junks were 
lazily drifting homewards like snow-white swans across its 
surface* The night-song of the crickets had given way to the 
droning of cicadas; and already^ although it was but shortly 
after sunrise^ the woods were ringing with their drowsy hum* 
The prospect was a perfect idyll of peace and beauty* 

I went down to the shore for a swim^ and found the rocks 
all alive with sea-cockroaches* Every island in the Inland 
Sea swarms with these curious creatures* They scuttle out of 
the way^ with much ado^ as soon as any one approaches^ and 
then peep furtively from the crevices in the rocks^ and watch 
you with great eyes until you go away^ when they scamper out 



THE INLAND SEA AND MIYAJIMA 299 

again immediately^ I swam about for an hour in the tepid 
sea^ which was so crystal clear that^ diving twenty feet deep^ 
I could see and pick up pebbles with perfect ease* The water 
is always clear here^ even in rough weather^ for the sand is 
of coarse decomposed granite; consequently there is no matter 
to become suspended in the water and discolour it* 

For ages Miyajima had been accounted by native con- 
noisseurs one of the three most beautiful places in Japan. The 
other two of the San-Kei^ or ''Three Principal Sights/' are 
Matsushima in the north, and Ama-no-Hashidate on the west 
coast* Miyajima, however, easily out-ranks the other two* 
It is one of the holiest of many holy islands in the Japanese 
Archipelago, being dedicated to three Shinto goddesses — the 
daughters of Susa-no-0, the Sea-king — after the eldest of 
whom it receives its alternative name — Itsukushima* 

Human beings may neither be born nor die within its 
sacred precincts* Should, however, a birth unexpectedly 
occur, the mother would be sent to the mainland for purifi- 
cation for thirty days; and in case of a sudden death the corpse 
must at once be removed to the opposite shore* Dogs are not 
permitted on the island* 

Apart from the great beauty of its scenery, Miyajima's 
chief attraction is its temple, which is quite unique in Japan, 
and has furnished inspiration to numerous native artists* The 
favourite motive is its torii — a colossal one, made of camphor 
wood — ^which forms one of the chief features in every view of 
the sacred island* This torii has been immortalised in every 
form of Japanese art* From whatever point one looks at it, 
it is a thing of beauty* At low water it stands on the sand; 
but as the tide rises the sea comes rippling all around it, until 
it seems to sail away far out on the bay, and the water is more 
than a fathom deep under it* Even the temple itself seems 
afloat, for it is built on piles, sunk deep into the sand, and the 
rising tide creeps under and all about its galleries and colon- 
nades, setting them all waist-deep in water* 

On the '* 17th day of the 6th moon'" great crowds flock to 
Miyajima, for this is the date of its annual matsuri* Instead, 



300 IN LOTUS-LAND 

however^ of coming on foot and in rikishas^ as they do to other 
religious festivals, the people come in boats, and sail in long 
procession to the temple, through the great torii which is 
its main gateway* 

A branch of the temple stands on the hill above* It is an 
enormous building, called Sen-j6-jiki, or the **Hall of a 
Thousand Mats/' A mat being six feet long by three feet 
broad, the area of this hall is therefore eighteen thousand 
square feet* Its interior is completely covered — ^walls, pillars, 
doors, and all — ^with wooden rice-ladles* This queer custom 
was started as recently as 1894, when troops were quartered 
here preparatory to leaving for the war with China* One of 
the soldiers one day hung up a rice-ladle in the temple ^*for 
luck*'" Others followed suit, and every one who has since 
visited the temple has donated a wooden spoon, inscribed 
with his name, until every available inch of the interior is 
now covered with this curious form of decoration* 

Behind the temple and the town, which is full of shops 
for the sale of pretty boxes and wood carvings, the mountain 
isle is covered with a thick forest of pine and maple trees to 
the utmost pinnacle of its numerous peaks* On the top of the 
highest of these, eighteen hundred feet from the level of 
the sea, there is a temple where Kobo Daishi lighted a sacred 
flame over a thousand years ago, and this, like the Vestal 
fire of ancient Rome, is never suffered to go out* During 
the eleven centuries that have passed since the day when the 
famous saint kindled it, it is said that the holy flame has 
been carefully watched by day and night, and has never been 
extinguished* 

Miyajima's forests are broken by gorges and ravines, where 
limpid streams mingle their laughter with the chorus of the 
myriad cicadas in the trees* In summer-time the whole island 
is all a-ringing and a-singing with these sweet voices of Nature 
in the kindest and most winning of her moods* Deer roam 
down from the hills to haunt the avenues of mossy granite 
lanterns by the shore, and to lick the tasty salt from the rocks, 
or nibble at the biscuits which every visitor gives them* As 



THE INLAND SEA AND MIYAJIMA 301 

one passes the temple^ tame pigeons fly from its roofs and 
settle on one's hand and shoulders^ begging to be fed» 

The night I left Miyajima was lovely and romantic as a 
dream* The tide was high^ and a sampan came to the beach to 
take me over the strait* Fiery ripples were breaking every- 
where along the shore^ and^ as we pushed off, phosphorescent 
flames burst in the water at every stroke of the boatman's 
yulo* As he stood in the stern, swaying backwards and forwards, 
with the ghostly wake of the boat burning in the water behind 
him, his silhouette seemed like some uncanny apparition* 

I thought of Charon plying his worm-eaten craft, filled 
with departed souls, across the river Acheron to Pluto's realm; 
and I half wished that I had not been able to pay the ferry- 
man's fare, for then perhaps this Japanese sendo would have 
declined to take me away from entrancing Miyajima — even 
as Charon made every soul wait one hundred years who could 
not produce the obolus he demanded as his fare* 

As I wrote the notes from which this chapter springs I 
had the subtle charm and enchantment of Miyajima all around 
me; and now, as I prepare these final lines for the press, 
memories of the happy days I have spent in that Japanese 
Arcadia surge vividly to mind, and a great yearning comes 
over me to be back there once again* 

I long to wander once more among its mossy old stone 
lanterns; to lie in the shade of its scented pines and watch 
the passing junks; to hear the croaking of the hoarse old crows 
and see the lazily-soaring hawks; to roam among its maple 
woods and listen to the murmur of its hundred waterfalls; 
to glide at night over the moonlit sea and hear the chants of 
the boatmen — and to drink to the full of every other pleasure 
that fair Miyajima has to give. But most of all I long to see 
once more the burning colours of sunset framed in the beautiful 
simple lines of its old sea-beaten torii* 

THE END 



INDEX 



Adams, Will, i, 271 

Ainus, 1 02/ 172; characteristics and con- 
ditions, 177-84; hairiness exagger- 
ated, 180; religion, 183 

Armour, 270-1 

Asama-yama, volcano, 275, 276; as- 
cended, 282-7; stone-showers and 
sulphur-fumes, 287-90 

Aso-san, volcano, 275; ascended, 277- 
81 

Awabi, 191 

Awaji, "" beginning of Japan,** 291-2 

Azaleas, 14, 18, 87 

Bacon, Miss A* M,, 32, 54 

Bamboo grove, 204 

Barley cultivation, 246 

Batchelor, Rev, J., 102, 183 

Bathing, mixed, 165, 186-7 

Bear-hunting in Ye%o, 18 1-2 

Beds and bedding, 51 

Beer and tea, 243 

Bells, 199 

Biwa-Ko lake, 264, 267-8, 271, 273 

Boots and slippers, 46, 126, 265 

Bronze fountain at Nikko, 157 

Bronze-work, Kuroda on, 223-4 

Buddha, the Great, 67-71; greater, at 

Nara, 254 
Buddhism, 25, 26, 72, 211, 214, 215 

Carnival, 15-16 

Carp festival, 56 

Carving feats, 226-7 

Cats, 161, 189 

Caves, 103 

Chamberlain, Professor, 34, 55, 56, 128, 
144, 186, 233, 268 

Charcoal fuel, 48, 50; ballast, 109 

Cherry-blossom festivals, 15-18 

Cherry-tree of Kamiide, 108 

Children, dehghtful, 53; peasant and 
upper class, 54; courteous, 54; happy 
with elders, 54-5; play and holidays, 
55-6; nature-lovers, 160; Ainu, 181 

Chrysanthemums, 22-3; festival of, 
23-5 



Chuzenji lake, 160-3 

Cicadas, 170, 206-7 

Cigarette-ends, 48-9 

Cliffs, columnar, no, 112 

Cloisonne ware at Namikawa*s, 233-8; 

factory contrast, 238; the studio and 

the process, 238-41 ; Tokyo variation, 

241-2 
Clothes — errors corrected, 30 
Coolies, 91-2, 107, 121, 130, 131, 132, 

134-5, 176 
Copper - beating — lesson from J omi, 

224-5 
Copper-mine track, 160-1, 168 
Courtesy and consideration, 54-5 
Crabs, 77 
Crickets, 298 
Cryptomerias, 153-4, 220, 250, 252 

Daimyo, reverence for, 6 

Daimyos: Ch5shu, 7, 8; Hikone, 5, 

266-7; Satsuma, 5, 7; Tosa, 9 
Damascening, Japanese v* Spanish, 

225-6 
Dango-zaka, 23-4 
Dan-no-ura, ballad, 39-40; battle, 57, 

58 
Death, Japanese view of, 61-2 
Deer, 250, 252, 300 
Doll festival, 56 
Dolphins, 295 
Dragon's Cave, 78 
Drum-tappers, 198 
Drunkenness, an Ainu virtue, 180-1 
Dutch in Japan, 1-2 
Dwarf trees, 196 

Earthquakes, 275 

East India Company, charter, i; war 

with Dutch, 1-2 
Embroidery, Nagara's, 227-8; artistry 

in and its perversion by commerce, 

228-9 
Emerson, Professor Edwin, 16-17 
Emotionalism and self-control, 35, 39- 

40 
England, Kuroki on, 43 



303 



304 



IN LOTUS-LAND 



Enoshima, sacred isle, 76-8, 124 

Feudalism, i, 4, 9, 10, 87 

** Firefly Battle'' at Uji, 246-8 

Fireplace or brazier, 45, 47-9, 49-51 

Fish dinners, 77-8, 97, 191 

Fisherfolk, 188-90 

Fish in sulphurous lakes, 164 

Fish-traps, 112, 268 

Fleas, 51, 135-6 

Flowers, reverence for, 14 

Foreigners, old distrust of, 2; treaties 
with and resulting unrest, 4-5 ; hatred 
of, 5-6, 7 

Fortune-teller, 218-9 

Fox, 215-6 

Fugii, General, 44 

Fuji-san: ascent from Gotemba, 117, 
119-20, 122-32, 146; at the summit, 
132-46; descent, 146-50; geology of, 
116-7, 125. 139-40, 145. 148, 173; 
rest-houses on, 120, 130, 131, 133-4, 
135, 146, 147; views and moods of, 
12, 13/ 77/ 85, 86, 91, 92, 95/ 97-8/ 
100, 101-2, 103, 105, 106, 113, 114, 
1 1 5-6, 119, 124/ 129/ 193-4/ 275 

Fujiya Hotel, 81-2 

Furnishings, 47 

Gardening triumphs, 23, 24, 209, 237 
Gateways at Nikko, 157-8 
Geisha girls, 22, 30-1, 39-40, 154, 274 
Gentleness, 53 
Geyser cure at Atami, 88-9 
Geysers of Yu-no-tani, 279-80 
Gods and Goddesses: Benten, 76, 78; 
Binzuru, 73, 201-2, 203, 220; Bud- 
dha, 67-71, 254 ; Daikoku, 73 ; Dosojin, 
108; Emma-O, 74; Fire, 102, 175, 
183; Inari, 215; Itsukushima, 299; 
Jizo, 83, 201, 215; Kwannon, 73, 201, 
204-5, 210; Luck, loi ; Sengen Sama, 
135, 140, 144, 145; Shi-Tenno^ 201 
Government, vital change in, 9, 10 
Guide-books: Murray's, 137; Tsuchi- 
ya's, 86-8 

Hachiman temple, 59-60, 61, 62, 67 

Hair, women's, 51-2, 212 

Hakodate, 17 1-2 

Hakone, its lake and memories, 85-9 

Hasedera, temple of Mercy, 71-3 

Hearn, Lafcadio, 28, 44, 135 

Hidari Jingoro, wood-carver, 157, 

213 
Hideyoshi, 213, 220 



Higashiyama mountain, 196-7, 203-4, 

206, 207 
Hikone castle, 267, 268-71 
Hiroshige, 113, 115, 260 
Hiroshima, garrison town, 36, 38-40 
Hokusai, 113, 115, 200, 259 
Home, the Japanese, 45-53 
Hori-kiri gardens, 21-2 
Horses, 123 

Hoshino, nature-worshipper, 90, 104, 105 
Hot springs, 80, 164, 172-3, 186, 278, 

281 
Houses and rooms, 46-7, 53 
Hurley, Dennis, 282, 288, 289 
Huts, 118, 178-9 

Imitation — copyright infringed, 231-2 

Import duty, 4 

Indemnities, 7, 8 

Inland sea, voyage on, 291-6 

Inns, 27/ 49/ 51/ 52/ 77/ ii4/ ii9/ I49- 

50, 171, 176, 186, 265, 278, 297-8 
Insect-merchant, 206 
Iris festival, 21-2 
Ivory-carving, Kan^da's, 226 

Jelly-fish, 295 
Junks, 293 

Kagoshima forts, 7, 42, 43 

Kagura dance, 158, 252 

Kamakura, old Shogun capital, 57, 59, 
64, 67, 69, 73-4, 75 

Kameido temple gardens, 14-15/ 19-21 

Kanagawa, treaty of, 4 

Kasuga's temple of peace, 250-3 

Katase village, 74-5 

Kettles, 49-50 

Kobo Daishi, versatile saint, 83-4, 108, 
300 

Kodama, General Baron, 40-1 

Kuper, Admiral, 7, 42, 43 

Kure's masked forts, 295 

Kuroki, General, 41, 42-4 

Kyoto, a fascinating city, 195-6; en- 
virons, 196-7; shops, 200; temples — 
Chio-in, 197-200; Kiyomizu, 200-3; 
San-ju-san-gen-do, 204-5; Kinka- 
kuji, 207-9; Ginkakuji, 209-11; 
Hongwanji, 21 1-4; Inari, 215-8, 
219-20; others, 220-1 

Lakes of Fuji, 91, 95, 98-9, 102-3, I04/ 

105, 106, 144, 145, 147 
Larks, singing, 278-9 
**Life" in Japanese art, 226-7 



INDEX 



305 



Lotus, food and symbol, 35-6, 211 

Magaro-fishing, 190-1 

Maples, 25, 220 

Masamune, sword-smith, 62^ 64 

Mascot, General Kodama*s, 41 

Mats, 45, 46, 47, 300 

Matsushima archipelago, 169-71 

Mikado, gilded captive, 3; regains im- 
perial power, 10 

Mikados: Komei, 9; Mutsohito, 9, 267 

Miyajima, a wonder isle, 296-7; maid 
of the inn, 297-8; sanctities and tem- 
ples, 299-300; Kobo Daishi's sacred 
flame, 300 

Miyanoshita, excursion centre, 79-82, 
91-2 

Modesty next to cleanliness, 187, 277 

Mongol armada, 117 

Monkeys, 156-7, 161 

Moon-bridges, 20-1 

Mosquitoes, 207 

Mountain basket, 84-5 

Mountaineering, methodical, 129-30 

Mountain footgear, 125-6; railway, 283; 
sickness, 135, 137; storm havoc, 166- 
8; tram episodes, 93-5, 95-6 

Mukojima, 15-17, 21 

My6jin-yama, view of, 104-5 

Mythology, 66 

Nakano, guide, 120, 121, 122, 133, 135, 
137 

Naojiro, boatman, 255, 256, 258, 259, 
261, 262 

Nara, ancient capital, 249; its temples, 
250-4 

Natural steam-cookers and Turkish 
baths, 282 

New Year, 14, 55, loo-i 

Nichiren, saint, 75, no 

Nightingale, 203 

** Nightingale floors,** 198, 213 

Nikko bridge, 15 1-3; villages and tem- 
ples, 154-60 

Nonaka, meteorologist, 140-1 

Okada, Captain, 42 
Okuma, Count, 23 
Omnibus, Japanese, and driver, 185-6, 

187-8 
Onuki, Mme,, 154-5 
Osaka castle, 271-3 
Oyama, Marquis, 40 

Pagoda, a five-storied symbol, 249-50 



Paper-mills, 25, 112 

Peonies, 18 

Perry, Commodore, i, 3, 4, 62 

Photography, 69-70, 106-7, 121, 145-6, 

176-7, 180, 182, 204, 272-3, 290 
** Pidgin English,** 31-2 
Pilgrims, 120, 123, 126-7, 128, 134, 135, 

137, 138-9, 143-4. 164, 165-6, 253 
Pines, 1 17-8, 1 18-9, 171, 192, 193, 

265-6 
Places ignored by guides, 185 
Port Arthur, 60-1 
Ports, open, 4 
Portuguese, 2 

Pottery-painter, insult to, 232-3 
Praying- wheel, 214-5 
Priest on Fuji, 134, 137-8 

Rats, 52 

Red Cross, 36-7, 38 
Register humours, 97 
Rice-growing, 244-6 
'* Richardson affair,** 5-7 
River-boats, 109, 255-6 
River trip up rapids, 261-3 
Russian war memories, 33, 34-44, 60-1 
Russian wounded and Japanese nurses, 
36,38 

Sake, 15-16, 1 80-1 

Salmon-fishing in Ye^o, 182-3 

Salt-extraction, 293 

Sampan and its crew, 188 

Samurai, 6, 41-2, 63. 66, 71 

Satsuma ware — a commercialized art, 

229-32 
School-girls and wounded, 37-8 
Sea-cockroaches, 298-9 
Self-restraint, 55 
Sewage disposal, 245, 268 
Shimonoseki Strait, 7-8 
Shintoism, 216 

Shodo Shonin, vision of, 152, 165 
Shoguns: Hidetada, 153; lemitsu, 156, 

159, 198; I^mochi, 5, 9; lesada, 3, 5; 

leyoshi, 3; lyeyasu, i, 63, 153, 158; 

Yoshimasa, 209, 210; Yoshimitsu, 

208; Yoshinobu, 9 
Shoji lake, 91, 99-100, 102, 103-4, io5/ 

144 
Shooting rapids of Fuji-kawa, 109-13; 

of Katsura-gawa, 255-60 
Skin disease, 54, 82 
Smile, the Japanese, 34, 35-6 
Soldiers and mothers, 44 
Spiders, 52 



3o6 



IN LOTUS-LAND 



Spit-balls, 73, 254 

Stone lanterns, 251 

Stones as curios, 261; volcanic showers 

of, 286, 288-9 
Straw sandals, 84, 112, 125-6, 147 
Suisenji park, 276-7 
Sulphur baths, 81, 82, 165 
Sunrise on Fuji, 143-4 
Swallows, 266 
Swords and their makers, 62-6 

Tea-ceremonies, 209, 210-1 

Tea-growing at Uji, 243-4 

Terauchi, General Baron, 40 

Tokaido road, 113, 115, 124 

Tokyo Bay, 11-12, 13 

Tokyo in cherry-blossom time, 15-18 

Torii, 219-20 

Tourists, customs of, 69, 70-1, 97, 205-6 

Towel-flags, 12 1-2 

U.S»A. threatens Japan, 2-3; obtains 

treaty, 4; returns indemnity, 9 
Un visited villages of Enoura Bay, 185- 

94 
Uyeno, 17-18 

Vandalism, 205-6 

Vice, 31 

Volcanic floors of Nobori-betsu, 173-5 

Volcanoes, 275-6 



Walls with eyes and ears, 52 

War hospitals, 36-40 

Waterfalls, 107-8, 159-60, 161-2, 163, 
164 

Weaning, 54 

Westernization determined, 9; and be- 
gun, 10 

Weston, Rev, W„ 288 

Wistarias, 19, 252 

Woman: her sphere in Japan, 27-9; 
misunderstood, 29-30; maligned — 
the real geisha, 30-1 ; her English not 
'* pidgin,'' 31-2; faithfully depicted 
by Miss Bacon, 32; difficult to know, 
33; author's appreciation of, 33-4; 
respected by the men, 34, 40, 41, 44; 
self-controlled in war-time, 34-5; as 
nurse, 36-7, 38; visits the wounded, 
37-8; mother of soldiers, 44; hair- 
dressing of, 51-2 

Wooden spoons ** for luck," 300 

Wood-mosaic, 81 

Yezo, 172; natives of, 175-7 (and see 
Ainus); virgin forests, 181-2; rivers, 
182 

Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, story of, 57-9 

Yoshisada's miracle, 75 

Yoshiwara, 30 

Yumoto lake and village, 163-5 



PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY J. B. PEACE, M.A, 
AT THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 



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